Glass F_m_fe.S 
Book 



STANDARD GUIDE 

TO 

HAVANA and CUBA* 



A COMPLETE HANDBOOK FOR VISITORS, 
WITH MAPS, ILLUSTRATIONS, HISTORY, 
AND AN ENGLISH -SPANISH 
MANUAL OF CONVERSATION 

By CHARLES B. REYNOLDS 




MORRO CASTLI 



FOSTER & REYNOLDS CO., PUBLISHERS 
Havana and New York 

1922 

Copyright, 1905, by Foster & Reynolds. 
Es propiedad del autor. Queda hecho el deposito 
que sefiala la ley, y prohibida la reproduction. 




THE HISTORIC SURRENDER TREE AT SANTIAGO. 



Cutting Sugar Cane. 




CONTENTS. 



Ready Reference Guide n 

Havana 17 

Plaza de Armas 27 

El Templete 29 

The Palace 30 

La Fuerza 3 2 

The Cathedral 38 

Obispo and O'Reilly 4° 

Parks and Prado 46 

Morro Castle ... 63 

The Siege of Havana 66 

Cabana 7 2 

Colon Cemetery 78 

Some of the Churches 113 

School and College 115 

Jai Alai 117 

In and About the City 82 

Suburbs 120 

Some Chapters of History 123 

English-Spanish Phrase Book 134 

Matanzas io % 

Camaguey 145 

On the North Shore 156 

Santiago 165 

Cienfuegos 175 

On the Caribbean Sea 177 

The Island of Cuba 182 

Cuban Fruits 185 



IN CENTRAL PARK, HAVANA. 



HAVANA AND MATANZAS INDEX. 



.gramonte 12& 
\lbear Aqueduct 85 
Ibear 52 

.ibear Statue 14, 52 
Ubemarle 66 
\ldama 25 

Almendares R. 85, 120 
\merican Club 14 
Arms of City 124 
Arsenal 14, 95 
Vrtilleria 77, 89 
Atares 14, 95 
Azotea 25 
Baal 34 
baggage 11 
Banks 14 
Baseball 99 
Bathing 120, 121 
Belen 115 

Botanical Garden 14 
British Rule 125 
British 66 
Bucaniers 121 
Bull Fight 99 
Caballeria Wharf 14 
Cabana 14 
Cab Fare 12 
Cable Landing 95 
Cable 16 
Cafes 82 

Campo de Marte 46 
Carcel 14, 56 
Carmen 40 
Carnival 54 
Carroll 128 



Cigars 99 
Cisneros 98 
Climate 119 
Clubs 116 
Cock Fighting 99 
Cocoanut Milk 83 
Coffee 84 

Colon Cemetery 14 
Colon Market 87 
Columbia Camp 121 
Columbus 123 
Columbus Bust 29 
Columbus Chapel, 15, 



Havana Siege 66 
History 123 
Hotels 13 
Houses 21, 25 
ImmaculateConception 4o 
India Fountain 48 
Inquisition 87 
Isle of Pines 145 
Jesus del Monte 120 
Key of New World 123 
Lace Seller 87 
La Cienaya 121 
29La Gallega 122 



Columbus Remains 29. 40 La Lncha 116 
Columbus Statue 29, 40 Landfall 17 



Congress 14, 94 
Coolies 98 

Cortina de Valdes 130 
Cristina Market 87 
Crittenden 75 
Custom House 14 
De Soto 32 
Drake 63 
Drives 122 
Drinks 82 
Drug Store 14 
Face Powder 128 
Fans 42 
Ferries 14 
Fesser 121 
Fever, Yellow 128 
Firemen 95 

Firemen's Monument 70 
Fish 87 
Fodder 86 
Fruits 82 



Cars 12 

Casa de Beneficencia 96Fuerza 14, 32 
Castanon 70 Garapina 83 

Cathedral 14, 38 Garcia Tomb 78 

Cojimar 66, 122 Garrote 56 

Ceiba 27, 29 Gonzales 66 

Cemeteries 15. 68 Grapes 85 

Centro Asturiano 116 Grilles 21 
Centro Dependientes n6Guadanos 17 



Cerro 120 

Chain Gang 54 

Chorrera 36, 67, 120 

Chinamen 98 

Churches 14, 113 
San Agustin 114 
SantL Catalina 114 
Santo Domingo 114 
La Merced 114 
Belen 115 



Guanabacoa 14, 122 
Guanabana 83 
Guines 122 
"Habana" 36 
Hack Fares 12 
Harbor r~ 18 
Hats 44 

"Havana" 46. 123 
Havana, Founding 123 
"Havana Post" 116 



Laurel Ditch 72 
Laurels 50 
Lazaer 128 
Legations 11 
Lee House 120 
Libraries 14. 94 
Lighters 19 
Lopez 75 
Loretto 40 
Lottery 90 
Luyano 90 
Luz Wharf 14 
Matanzas 16, 101 
Bellamar Caves 106 
Canimar River 103, in 
Cumbre 103, 105 
"Matanzas" 112 
Maya Point 103 
Montserrate 103, 105 
Morrillo Castle 103 
Pan 102 

Paseo Marti 109 
Patriot Monument 11 
Plaza 103 

Pueblo Nuevo 103, 111 
Sabanilla Point 103 
San Carlos Ch'ch 104 
San Juan R. 103, 112 
San Severino tit 
St. Peter's Church 109 
Versalles 103, 109 
Yumuri River 109, in 
Yumuri Valley 105 

Machina 18, 20 

Maine 19, 126 

Malecon 52. 60 

Marianao 15, 120 

Markets 15. 87 

Martello Tower 95 



12 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



Marti 87 

Marti Theatre 16, 92 
Meals 13, 41 
Menendez 35 
Merced 114 
Milk 86 
Money 11 
Monteros 86 
Morro 15, 63 
Morro Light 65 
Morro, Little 122 
Mosquitoes 128 
Music 52 
Names 41 
Navy Yard 14 
Newspapers 116 
Obispo Street 41 
Ocampo 123 
O'Donnell 118 
O'Farrell 118 
O'Lawler 118 
O'Reilly 118 
O'Reilly Street 41 
Orchata 82 
Palace 15, 30 
Panal 82 
Parks- 
Central 50 
Colon 47 
India 48 
Isabel 48 
Malecon 46 
Prado 54 
Park Seats 15 
Paseo Carlos III. 91 
Paseo Tacon 91 
Passports 3, 133 
Pastor 66 
Patio 24 

Paula Hospital 15 
Payret 92 
Pina Fria 82 
Pirates 32, 34, 121, 123 
Photographs 15 

Views of Havana and surroundings may be gained from these 
points: Tower of La Fuerza. The ramparts of Morro Castle and of 
Cabana. The roof of the Havana Tobacco Company's building, No. 
10 Zulueta street. (Permits given at the office.) This is the most 
comprehensive view in the city. The Malecon. Principe Hill. Colon 
Cemetery, over the Gulf. The churchyard of the Church of Nuestra 
Senora de la Guadaloupe; Jesus del Monte cars. 



Playa 15, 121 
Plaza de Armas 15, 27 
Playa de Marianao 121 
Pocock 66 
Population 98 
Police 15, 88 
Post-Office 15 
Potosi 122 
Poultry 86 
Prado 54 
Presidio 15 
Principe 15, 95 
Punta 60 

Puentes Grandes 121 
Puerto de Carenas 123 
Quemados 121 
Quinta Molinos 15 
Railroads 13 
Recogidas 98 
Reed 128 
Regla 15, 121 
Reina Battery 95 
Representatives 94 
Republic 31 
Restaurants 15 
Rocking Chairs 20 
Rural Guard 88 
San Carlos Seminary 38 
San Cristobal 120, 123 
San Lazaro 98 
Santa Clara 95 
Santa Rita Baths 122 
Santiago Vegas 122 
Schools 115 
Seasons 119 
Senate 94 
Serenos 88 
Shoe Seller 86 
Shooting 122 
Shops, 15, 41, 44 
Signal Station 65 
Sores 34 
Sour-sop 8* 



Spanish Casino 116 
St. Christopher 40 
Steamships 12, 13 
Slaves 125 
Streets 91 

Street Sweepers 84 
Street Car 11 
Street Venders 86 
Students 57, 78 
Suburbs 120 
Summer Palace 92 
Sweets 84 
Sweet-sop 83 
Tacon 131 
Tacon Market 87 
Tacon Theatre 16, 92 
Telegraph 15 
Templete 15, 29 
Tetas de Managua 17 
Theatres 16, 92 
Toledo Ingenio 121 
Tulipan 120 
Twelve Apostles 65 
Union Club 116 
University 116 
U. S. Customs 10 
U. S. Intervention 127 
Vedado 16, 120 
Vegetables 87 
Velasco 66, 69 
Velazquez 29 
Vento 85 
Views of City 10 
Villanueva 48 
Vivac 98 
Wall 62, 96 
Waring 91 
Water Supply 85 
Windows 21 
Wine 84 
Yacht Club 121 
Yellow Fever 128 
Zanja 92, 121 



HAVANA READY REFERENCE. 



Arrival in Havana. — Baggage, consisting of wearing apparel, toilet 
articles, etc., is admitted free of duty. All baggage must be opened for 
inspection on the dock. The automobile fare from landing wharf to 
hotel is 20 cents for two persons, 25 cents for three, 30 cents for 
four. The hack fares are one-half of the above prices. Passports are 
required in Cuba. 

Baggage Transfer. — Baggage of the following steamer lines will be 
handled by the Cuban and Pan-American Express Company: Ward Line 
from New York, Southern Pacific New Orleans-Havana Line from New 
Orleans. The pursers of these steamers, acting as agents of this com- 
pany, will check baggage from wharf to hotels, residences, and also rail- 
way stations in Havana, where the passenger, on presenting his ticket, 
may have his baggage checked to any station on the different railways 
of the island. 

Baggage of steamers will be checked by the baggage agent on the 
wharf on arrival. 

The trolley car starting points are at Central Park, San Juan de 
Dios Park, the Muelie de Luz and the Custom House. The lines run 
to Jesus del Monte, Cerro, Principe, the University and Colon Ceme- 
tery and Vedado, Luyano; and connection is made with Veda do car 
for Marianao and Camp Columbia. The fare is 5 cents. 

Central Station (Estacion Central) is the Havana terminal for all 
trains to and from all points reached by the United Railways of 
Havana, Cuba Railroad, Western Railway of Havana, Havana Central 
(electric) R.R., Cuban Central Railway, Guantanamo & Western 
R.R., and the Isle of Pines S.S. Co. 

The Havana-Marianao electric trains arrive at and depart from the 
Galiano and Zanja streets station. 

Post-Office, on Oficios street at foot of Teniente Rey street. 
Branch offices in Dragones street and in Hotel Sevilla. 

During the winter period mail arrives from the United States daily 
except Sunday, and is ready for delivery at 8 A. M. 

Outgoing mails close at the Post-Office at 8:30 A. M. 

id 



*4 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



IN HAVANA. 

Cables. — Western Union, Cuba and Obispo streets. 
Telegraph.— Office of the Government Line in Post-Office Building. 
Albear Statue, Albear Park, off from Central Park. See page 52. 
American Club. — No. 83 Prado. 

Atares Castle. — On hill at head of harbor. Take Jesus del Monte car 
to Cristina station; then walk. See page 95. 

Botanical Gardens. — On Paseo de Carlos III. Principe car. Page 92. 

Cabana. — Take boat from Caballeria wharf or other landing. Fare 
10 cents. Cabana and Morro may be visited in connection. Page 72. 

Carcel. — Foot of Prado. Since the paragraphs on pages 56-57 were 
put into type, the Federal prisoners have been removed to Principe. 

Cathedral, Empedrado and San Ignacio streets. See page 38. 

Cervantes Statue is in San Juan de Dios Park. 

Churches. — Roman Catholic; see page 38. Cathedral, Empedrado and 
San Ignacio streets. Belen, Compostela and Luz streets. La Merced, 
Cuba and Merced streets. San Agustin, Cuba and Amargura streets. 
Cristo (American; Augustinian Fathers), Villegas and Amargura 

streets. 

Protestant Denominations (Services in English). — Holy Trinity 
Cathedral, Neptuno and Aguila ; W. L. Piatt, Sec'y, 105 Prado. Metho- 
dist, 10 Virtudes street. Presbyterian Church, Salud 40. Baptist Temple, 
corner Dragones and Zulueta. 

Cristobal Colon Cemetery. — Peached by the Universidad-Aduana line 

of cars, fare 5 cents. See page 78. 

Custom House (Aduana). — In San Francisco and Machina wharves. 
Ferries leave Luz wharf for Casa Blanca and Regla, fare 5 cents. 
Fuerza. — O'Reilly street and Plaza de Armas. 

Guanabacoa.— Ferry from Luz wharf to Regla (fare 5 cents); thence 
rail, fare 5 cents. 

Libraries.— National, in La Maestranza, Cuba and Chacon streets. 

Luz Wharf terry to Regla and Casa Blanca, is at the foot of Luz 

street. Reached by Muelle de Luz street car lines. 



HAVANA READY REFERENCE. 



15 



Malecon. — Foot of Prado. See pages 52, 60. 

Marianao. — Reached by rail from Galiano and Zanja streets; fare 5 
cents; or by Vedado line of electric cars; fare 5 cents to Vedado and 
5 cents Vedado to Marianao. 

Markets. — Colon, Monserrate street. Tacon, La Reina street. 

Matanzas excursions by the United Railways. Tickets at Prado 118. 

Morro Castle. — Take boat from Caballeria wharf or other landing 
Fare 10 cents. Cabana may be visited in connection. See page 63. 

Paula Hospital. — San Isidro, between Cuba and Havana. Page 98. 

La Playa. — The Marianao sea beach. Train from Galiano and 
Zanja streets. 

Park Seats. — The chair seats in Central Park and at the Malecon are 
free during the day. From 5 to 10 o'clock P. M. a charge of 5 cents 
is made. A ticket bought in either park is good also in the other. 
The benches are free at all times. 

Plaza de Armas. — Foot of O'Reilly and Obispo streets. Page 27. 

Police Headquarters, Monserrate and Empedrado streets. 

Principe Castle. — On hill west of city. Take Principe car. Page 95. 

Punta (Fortress).— Foot of Prado. See page 60. 

Regla. — Ferry from Luz wharf. Fare 5 cents. See page 121. 

Templete, or "Columbus Chapel. ,, — Foot of O'Reilly street. Page 29. 

Theatres. — National, Prado opposite Central Park. Payret, Prado 
and Central Park. Campoamor, Zulueta, east of Central Park. Mira- 
mar Gardens, foot of Prado — Cinematograph. 

Vedado. — On Gulf, Vedado line of cars. Fare 5 cents. See page 120 

Young Men's Christian Association. — Apodaca and Egido streets. 



i6 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



MATANZAS EXCURSIONS. 

Matanzas, on the north coast, fifty-four miles distant, is second onl: 
to Havana in interest for the tourist; and one should not omit it frorr j 
the Cuba itinerary. The place has peculiar beauty of situation and sur r 
roundings. The Yumuri Valley is one of the famous landscapes of th j! 
globe, while the Bellamar Caves display the characteristic subterranear I, 
formation which underlies a large part of the island. 

U. S. CUSTOMS. 

Paragraph 709, appearing in the free list of the present tariff act, gov \ 
erning passengers' baggage, reads as follows: 

709. Wearing apparel, articles of personal adornment, toilet articles 
and similar personal effects of persons arriving in the United States; bu f 
this exemption shall only include such articles as actually accompany anu | 
are in the use of, and as are necessary and appropriate for the wear and * 
use of such persons, for the immediate purposes of the journey and 
present comfort and convenience, and shall not be held to apply to me~ i 
chandise or articles intended for other persons or for sale. 

r 




CENTRAL PARK. 



HAVANA. 



The landfall for ships making the port of Havana is the Tetas de 
Managua, two conical hills 732 feet high, which rise inland south of the 
city. Then is seen the tower of Morro light; and on nearer approach 
the dark mass of Morro Castle comes into view cn the left of the mouth 

)f the harbor, with La Punta on the right, and the low-lying town 
stretching along the crescent shore of the Gulf. The view is novel and 
attractive. Within a few hundred feet from the shore the dark blue of 
the sea changes to a hue of pale green, which makes an effective fore- 

T round for the town with its houses gaily painted in tints of pinks and 
j ellows and browns, and blue and green, and white, and the dark red of 
the Spanish tiled roofs; beyond rise the green hills, and above is a sky 
intensely blue. It is all very bright and highly colored and charming, 
whether we see it in the tinted air of the early morning or in the full 
blaze of the noonday sun. It is one of many brilliant panoramas we 
shall find in Cuba. 

The harbor entrance is not more than 350 to 400 yards wide. We pass 
dose under the Morro, and see beyond it the extensive fortifications 
of Cabana crowning the heights opposite the city. On the right we may 




GUADANOS — HARBOR BOATS. 

17 



i8 THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




LA MACHINA. 



distinguish the Malecon with its music stand, La Punta, the fort on the 
point, the yellow mass of the Carcel, and the Havana Tobacco Com- 
pany's factory, which is the latest conspicuous feature added to the city's 
sky-line. Beyond on the harbor front is the tower of Havana's oldest 
fort, La Fuerza, with its bronze Indian maid facing the sea. Still beyond 
is the tower of the old church of San Francisco, the highest in Havana. 

Entering the harbor in the old days when the Spanish standard of red 
and gold waved above Morro and Cabana, we would have seen long lines 
of soldiers in white uniforms on the parapets, and have heard the shrill 
of fife and roll of drum. But to-day no military display enlivens the scene ; 
both forts have an air of desertion. On Morro we catch our first glimpse 
it may be of the flag of Cuba waving over Cuban territory; and there is 
here the official semaphore of the port, whence the signal flags have 
long since announced to the city the coming of our ship. The harbor 
expands before us into a magnificent bay, two and one-half miles wide, 
with sea-room for a thousand ships ; and in the numerous steamships and 
sailing craft we may find indication of the magnitude of the commerce 
of the port ; the arrivals of vessels at Havana in the course of a year from 
domestic and foreign ports number over 3,500. The bay is enlivened with 



20 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




CALl.E OBRAPTA. 



numerous guadaiios, passenger boats of a type peculiar to these 
waters; they are very heavy and substantial in construction, equipped 
with an awning n the stern and manned by a class of stout-armed 
and weather-beaten boatmen called guadaneros. 

On the wharf our baggage is inspected by officials who know how 
to be at the same time customs examiners and polite — courtesy is the 
rule in Havana. Taking taxi for the hotel, we straightway find our- 
selves in the narrow streets characteristic of this old part of the city, 
and are amid surround'ngs where the unfamiliar style of the houses, 
the vehicles, the street life, the strange ways and the Spanish tongue 
proclaim that we are in a foreign land. 



HAVANA. 



21 




minim 



One feature which cannot fail to 
impress the visitor in Havana is the 
heavy style of the architecture. Most 
of the houses are of one story or of 
two ; but the single story is often so 
lofty that it seems as high as many 
two-storied houses elsewhere; and 
the effect is enhanced by the immense 
doors, the great windows, the heavy 
roofs, and frequently by the colon- 
nades which line the front. The 
houses are constructed of blocks of 
limestone, and of rough rubble work, 
called mamposteria. The walls are 
very thick, doors high and massive, 
and the windows, reaching nearly 
from floor to ceiling, are guarded by 
iron bars and ornamental grilles, 
In Havana every man's house is his 
castle. The first permanent structure 
here was a fortress, and the city ap- 
pears to have taken its architectural 
pattern from the bastions and embra- 
sures of La Fuerza. Everywhere, in 
public building and private house, 
one gets the impression of massive, 
substantial construction. Havana 
was built to endure. There are no 
front yards ; the houses are built flush 
with the street and close together; 
the entrances are on the street level; 
in some cases the ground floor is 
lower than the street. Havana doors 
a typical window. are a s t u dy; they are often double, 

10 to 15 feet high, and may be of solid mahogany or some other richly 
colored native wood, heavily barred and studded, and furnished with pon- 
derous bolts and ornamental locks and knockers. A wicket door set in the 
larger one is common. 

Windows are closed by iron grilles, which often project a few inches into 
the street; inside the grilles are swinging slat blinds without any glass, 
or solid shutters with a single pane of glass. The window grille may 
be a plain iron bar grating, or, as in the better class of houses, an 
elaborate and highly artistic composition, in which the graceful curves 
form an intricate pattern. If we study such a window, we shall find 




22 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




SOME HOUSES ON THE PRADO. 



that the effect is secured by repeating and combining a few simple parts. 
Thus in the upper grille of the window here shown, there is an S-shaped 
piece which is repeated eight times, and a half-S, which is repeated sixteen 
times ; the several parts being riveted together. The lower member of the 
window is composed in like manner of a combination of Ss. The parts 
are made by bending a pliable flat iron rod around a steel shape or mold 
fastened in a vise ; the bending is done by hand, an expert workman turn- 
ing out the pieces bent to shape with facility and rapidity. 

En cada tierra su uso — "Every country has a way of its own" — said 
Sancho Panza in accounting for the peculiarities of the houses in El 
Toboso. Havana's way has been determined by the Havana climate. Every- 
thing is arranged with reference to coolness. The thick walls and heavy 
roofs are to withstand the glare of the tropical sun; unglazed windows 
are to admit the full inflow of every cooling draught. We need not be 
here long, even in midwinter, before we appreciate the good sense and 
wisdom of the Havana methods of house building. The open air life has 
had a distinct effect upon the physique of the people. This has been a 
subject of frequent remark by travelers. "The girls as well as the young 



HAVANA. 



23 




TYPICAL HAVANA COLONNADES. 



men have ralher narrow shoulders," noted William Cullen Bryant, "but 
as they advance in life, the chest, in the women particularly, seems to ex- 
pand from year to year, till it attains an amplitude by no means common 
in our country. I fully believe that this effect, and their general health, 
in spite of the inaction in which they spend their lives, is owing to the 
free circulation of air through their apartments." 



24 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




HOUSES IN JESUS DEL MONTE. 



This open air system of Cuban life has produced, as a natural result, an 
openness of living. The grilled windows affording full view of the interior 
of the house give a measure of domestic publicity which is strange to the 
northern eye accustomed to a privacy of home life, which in its turn is 
largely a product of a climate that compels the shutting up of houses to 
keep out the cold. In warm, sunny, open air Havana, people live in their 
homes in the public view, eat and drink and visit in the public view ; and 
even dc their courting where they may be seen of all men; for the con- 
ventional trysting place is the front window, the amante de ventana — 
"window lover" — leaning against the bars on the outside, the inamorata 
within, the iron grating between, and another member of the family always 
present to hear everything that is said. Looking in through the windows 
at night, the passerby sees the chairs arranged for the family and their 
visitors, placed in two rows facing one another, in lines at right angles 
with the front wall of the house, one row for the men, the other for the 
women, as etiquette strictly demands. 

The central feature of the Cuban home is the patio, the interior court 
about % which the house is built. This is paved, open to the sky, and sur- 
rounded by arcades and galleries. All the rooms open on it; below are the 
parlors in front, the kitchen in the back, and if there be a horse we shall 
find the stable back by the kitchen ; while in two-story houses an open 
stairway leads to the upper gallery, upon which open the sleeping rooms. 
The patio is often filled with a profusion of shrubbery — lemon and palm 



HAVANA. 



25 



and banana, orchids and roses and other flowers, and ferns and vines, 
with caged birds, a fountain plashing in the center, and perhaps a piece of 
statuary. It is all very cool and inviting as one catches a glimpse of it 
from the hot street. 

In flat-roofed houses the walls are carried up above the roof to form 
parapets, and the roof thus inclosed, called an azotea, is sacred to the 
washerwoman's use by day and a favorite gathering place of the family 
in the evening. On bright moonlight nights it is a delightful resort. 

"In the evening, after tea, I go up to the roof of the house, which is flat, as are all 
the roofs here, and is called azotea, surrounded by a low parapet, upon which stand 
urns, which are generally gray, with raised green ornaments, and little gilt flames at the 
top. Here I walk alone till late into the night, contemplating the starry heavens 
above me, and the city below my feet. The Xtorro light, as the lofty beacon fire in 
the Morro fortress is called, is kindled, and beams like a large, steadily gleaming star, 
with the most resplendent light over the ocean and city. The air is delicious and 
calm, or breathes merely like a slumbering child; and around me I hear on all sides 
the sweetest, most serene little twitter, not unlike that of sparrows with us, but more 
serene, or with a softer sound. I am told that is the little lizards, which are here 
found in such abundance, and which have the gift of voice." — Fredrika Bremer, 1851. 

Many Havana houses are of immense size, and cost enormous fortunes. 
The city was the home of a large class of wealthy sugar planters, whose 
incomes were reckoned by the hundreds of thousands, and who, leaving 
their rarely visited sugar estates to the control of the manager (mayoral), 
built themselves palaces here and lived in the midst of every luxury money 
could buy. Such a home was that one built by Miguel de Aldama, at the 
corner of Amistada and Reina streets, facing Colon Park. Aldama was 
Havana's richest man; his income was estimated at $3,000,000 a year, when 
in i860 he built this home, which cost $400,000 and was famed as the 
largest and most magnificent house in the city. Aldama was a Cuban 
patriot, and when at the breaking out of the rebellion of 1868 he was obliged 
to flee from the city, the Spanish Volunteers ransacked the house and 
wrecked the ornaments and destroyed the paintings and statuary; and the 
house was afterward converted into a tobacco factory, in which room was 
found for 450 cigarmakers. Some of the finest houses are on the Prado, 
the Paseo de Tacon, and in the Jesus del Monte and Cerro sections; but 
Havana has no exclusive residence district; it is one of the anomalies that 
a costly house and a carpenter shop, a rich man's mansion and a shoe- 
maker's shop may be cheek by jowl in any part of the city. 

"Havana is a city of palaces, a city of streets and plazas, of colonnades and towers 
and churches and monasteries. The Spaniards built as they built in Castile; built 
with the same material, the white limestone which they found in the New World as in the 
Old. The palaces of the nobles in Havana, the residences of the Governor, the convents, 
the cathedral, are a reproduction of Burgos or Valladolid, as if by some Aladdin's 
lamp a Castilian city had been taken up and set down unaltered on the shore of 
the Caribbean Sea. * * * The magnitude of Havana and the fullness of life which 
was going on there, entirely surprised me."— James Anthony Froude, 1887. 



20 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



The rooms of Havana houses are very large and the ceilings are high, 
eighteen feet being the average. In high-roofed houses there are some- 
times no ceilings, the apartment being left open to the ridge. The floor is 
of tile or cement, without carpet, and there are vast expanses of vacant 
wall space. Upholstered furniture is unknown; cool cane and wicker pre- 
vail. The rocking-chair is universal — in the house, in the office, in the 
committee rooms of the Senate. 

The typical hotel bedroom has a tiled floor without any carpet save 
for a narrow rug in front of the bed. The ceiling is from 18 to 25 feet 
in height ; the windows opening from the floor are almost as high ; there 
are slatted blinds on the outside and solid shutters on the inside, with per- 
haps one small pane of glass. The bed is canopied with a mosquito netting 
which may be a handsome specimen of lacework; the mattress is very 
thin or wanting altogether. A swinging slat screen permits leaving the 
bedroom door open. 




HOTEL BEDROOMS. 



PLAZA DE ARMAS. 



A group of interesting points which are near together and may be 
visited in connection, are clustered about the Plaza de Armas. These are 
the Palace, Templete, Fuerza, Cathedral, and the shopping streets Obispo 
and O'Reilly. Near the Plaza is the Caballeria Wharf. 

It was the practice of the Spaniards when they laid out a new town to 
reserve a space in the center as a public square, about which the military 
and civil buildings might cluster, and the open field of which might be 
used as a drill ground for the soldiery, thus giving to it the name Plaza 
de Armas, or place of arms. In keeping with such a custom, this open 
square was reserved for a plaza when the city was founded in 15 19. Here 
we get back to the beginning of Havana. On the east of the square 
nearer the shore of the bay still stands a ceiba tree descended from the 
ceiba which originally shaded the spot where the founders of the city 
held the first mass. On the north is the old fortress La Fuerza, well 
named the "corner-stone of Havana.'' On the south was established 
the soldiers' barrack and on the west was the first church. The church 
was demolished in 1777 to make way for the new residence of* the 
Governor-General. In the wall of the building on the corner of Obispo 




PLAZA DE ARMAS AND PALACE. 



28 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



street is a marble tablet which was removed from the old church, com- 
memorating the death in 1667 of Dona Maria Cepero, who was killed 
by the accidental discharge of a soldier's arquebus while she was 
kneeling at her devotions in front of one of the altars. 

Until very recently the Plaza de Armas was the administrative 
center of Havana and Cuba. Here we are on historic ground. In the 
center of the park is a marble statue of Ferdinand VTI. There was a 
peculiar propriety in setting up here in front of the Palace the effigy 
of the Spanish king in whose troubled rule the ro} r al decree was 
issued which gave to the Captain-General of Cuba "all the powers of 
governors of cities in a state of siege." 

in old Havana, crowded within the city walls, the Plaza de Armas was 
the favorite pleasure resort of the Havanese in the evening. 

At 8 o'clock, drove to the Plaza de Armas, a square in front of the Governor's 
house, to hear the Retreta, at which a military band plays for an hour, every even- 
ing. There is a clear moon above, and a blue field of glittering stars; the air is pure 
and balmy; the band of fifty or sixty instruments discourses most eloquent music 
under the shade of palm trees and mangoes; the walks are filled with promenaders, 
and the streets around the square lined with carriages, in which the ladies recline 
and receive the salutations and visits of the gentlemen. — R. H. Dana, 1858. 




EL TEMPI.ETE. 



EL TEMPLETE. 



The Spaniards who explored the new world and planted colonies were 
accompanied by the priests of their religion, and the celebration of the 
mass had a recognized place among the formalities which were observed 
in the establishment of a town. When in the year 1519 Diego de Velazquez 
founded Havana here at the Puerto de Carenas, the priests said a mass under 
a ceiba tree standing near the shore. At an early pericd the inhabitants 
marked the historic spot, and in 1747 Captain-General Francisco Cagigar 
erected for a permanent memorial an obelisk of stone. Arrete, writing in 
1755, records that in that year the original ceiba tree was in full bloom at 
an age reckoned at 400 years. When the bones of Columbus were trans- 
ferred to Havana in 1795, before being deposited in the Cathedral they 
were first brought to this spot, and in an ebony sarcophagus were placed 
in state under the venerable ceiba, where they were formally inspected by 
the Captain-General and pronounced to be the genuine relics of the 
Discoverer. As a more elaborate memorial, El Templete (the little temple 
or chapel) was dedicated in 1828, on March 9, the Queen's birthday. The 
dedication was attended with much pomp, the Governor and his staff in 
full uniform, the Bishop in his pontificals, 5,000 troops, and thousands of 
citizens taking part in the procession. The images of the saints were 
brought from the church, and a mass was celebrated here on the scene of 
the first mass three hundred years before. A bronze tablet commemorates 
the event in these words : 

"During the reign of His Majesty Don Fernando VII., under the Presidency and 
Governorship of Don Francisco Dionisio Yives, the most faithful, religious and 
pacific Havana erected this simple monument, consecrating the place where, in the 
year 1519, was celebrated the first mass and holy office, the bishop Don Juan Jose 
Diaz de Espada solemnizing the Divine Sacrifice of the Mass on the 9th day of 
March, 1828." 

The Templete contains three paintings by Escobar. The first one pic- 
tures the installation of the first Municipal Council in Cuba, at Santiago, 
Don Diego de Velazquez presiding. The second one is of the celebration 
of the first mass on this spot in 1519 ; the Indians gathered around to look 
on at the mysterious ceremony, and with hands uplifted exclaiming, 
''Habana." The third painting commemorates the inauguration of the 
monument itself, with portraits of Governor Vives and his chief officers. 
The chapel is open once a year on November 16, San Cristobal's day. The 
column in front of the chapel marks the site of the original ceiba, which 
was cut down in 1828 and converted into relics. The tree now here is 
reputed to have been grown from a slip of the old tree. The bust of 
Columbus in the court is esteemed a good portrait. It was carefully 
studied by the American painter, John Vanderlyn, when he came to 
Havana to find a model for the Columbus in his painting of the ''Landing 
of Columbus," which hangs in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington. 

29 



LA FUERZA. 



Opposite the Plaza de Armas on O'Reilly street, is the ancient Spanish 
fortress, La Fuerza, a cherished relic of the city's remote past. It was 
begun in the year 1538, and antedates Morro Castle by fifty years. The his- 
tory of La Fuerza goes back to the time of Hernando de Soto, when the 
Spaniard had but precarious foothold in Cuba, and the infant town was at 
the mercy of sea rovers and freebooters. The building of the stronghold 
was prompted by a pillaging of the town by French pirates. Ogilby 
relates the incident : 

"But Havana was not so strongly fortified in former times, for Anno 
1536 it could not resist a mean French Pyrate, who, losing the rest of his 
Fleet, was driven hither by storm, and conquering Havana, had burnt the 
same, consisting at that time of wooden houses covered with thatch, had 
not the Spaniards redeemed them from the fire for seven hundred Ducats ; 
with which money the French set sail, when the day following three ships 
arrived from New Spain before Havana, and having unladen their goods, 
and preparing themselves for battle, pursued the Pyrate ; who getting 
sight of the Admiral, who sailed before, durst not venture to engage him 
alone, but staid for the other two ships : from which cowardly action the 
French Pyrate taking courage, fell on the Spanish Admiral, who without 
firing a gun ran his ship ashore, and deserted the same; the next one 
thereby discouraged, tacking about, made away from the enemy; on which 
the third also followed, insomuch that at last they were all three taken by 
the French ; who encouraged with this unexpected victory steered their 
course a second time to Havana, where they got as much more money 
from the inhabitants as before." 



LA FUERZA. 



31 






THE TOWER OF LA FUERZA AND THE SENATE BUILDING. 

When De Soto, then Governor of Cuba, learned of the plight of the 
inhabitants, he came hither from Santiago, then the capital, and under- 
took the construction of a fort. Captain Mateo Acertuna, the town's first 
alcalde, was the engineer. De Soto saw the defenses completed before the 
twelfth of May, 1539, when, with a fleet and a force of men "all well made 
and well equipped, so that there had not been seen up to that time an 
armament for the Indies so large and so fine," he set sail on the memorable 
expedition for the conquest of Florida and the discovery of the Missis- 
sippi. The Adelantado left here in La Fuerza, as commander in his 
stead, Dona Isabel de Bobadilla, his wife. It was here that Dona Isabel 
waited and watched through the weary years for the coming of her hus- 
band, who was never to return; until at last in the fourth year there came 
refugees from America, who brought the tidings of his fate. "By this," 
says the contemporary account, "she was so sensibly moved that she 



34 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




THE BARRACKS OF LA FUERZA. 

could not restrain her grief, and died a few days after the mournful news." 
The old fort must always be associated with this pathetic figure of 
Havana's early days. 

In the years of storm and stress which followed the building of La 
Fuerza (The Fort), it was more than once called on to defend the town 
growing up under its protection, and shared the varied fortunes of war. 
In 1543, when four warships under command of the French Captain 
Roberto Baal attacked the city, an invading force landed where La 
Punta now stands, but the guns of La Fuerza opened on them so vigor- 
ously that the enemy was repulsed, with the loss of many lives, and the 
survivors retired panic-stricken to their ships. Then came Captain 
Jacob de Sores, a French corsair, who captured both town and fort, sack- 
ing and burning the houses and churches and practically demolishing La 
Fuerza, which was at once restored and manned with a larger garrison. 
In those days the harbor was the rendezvous of the plate-fleets from 
Mexico and Peru. All the . old maps of the West Indies bear legends 
showing the tracks of the galleons, "Advice is sent hither from whence it 
is despatcht over Land to Cartagena, Panama and Lima to hasten the 
King's Treasure. From Cartagena after some stay they sail for ye 
Havana to meet there the Flota. The Gallions & Flota usually 
joyning at the Havana ye whole Armada sails for Spain." Thus to Lr 



LA FUERZA. 



35 



Fuerza was intrusted not only the keeping of the city, but the protection 
as well of the cargoes of gold and silver destined for the Spanish treasury, 
n 1544 a royal decree was issued requiring war ships coming into the 
larbor to salute the fortification in recognition of its dignity and 
.iportance. 

La Fuerza was for a long period the official residence of the Governors 

:d Captains-General of the island; among them, in 1568, that Pedro de 
Tenendez d'Aviles, who three years before in 1563 had founded St. 
Augustine in Florida. Writing in 1761, Arrete records that the Governors 
_ * that period did much to adorn La Fuerza, providing reception parlors 
and luxurious sculpture in the interior, and ornamental round balconies 
D the outside. Originally called La Fuerza, meaning "The Fort," after 

.h^r forts were built it was known as La Vieja Fuerza, 'The Old Fort," 
and from its use for a residence as "Governors' Fort." This name 
apnears on the plan of 1762, which is reproduced cn another page. 

The work is a quadrilateral fortress, having a bastion at each of the 
corners. It is 25 yards in height; the walls are double, and the terrepleins 
are supported on arches. It was surrounded by a deep moat. The bell 
in the tower sounded the hours through day and night, and was rung by 
the sentinel always posted here to alarm the town of the approach of a 
hostile sail. Later the signal flags of La Fuerza repeated the messages 
of those of the Morro, to announce the arrival of ships. The bronze 
figure of the Indian girl on the tower, holding a cross and facing the Gulf, 




FROM THE TOWER OF LA FUERZA. 



36 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



was known to the sailors of the world as "La Habana," and they carried 
her fame into every sea. 

Originally occupying a point of vantage and standing out in front of the 
town it was put here to defend, the fort was in course of time surrounded 
by the growing population, and its utility superseded by other and more 
powerful fortifications. The moat was filled up ; barracks were built 
about it, and high walls shut it in. It was even debased to the office of a 
jail. In 1900, during the government of intervention, the Americans de- 
molished the encompassing walls, excavated the moat, and rebuilt the 
moat wall, replaced the drawbridge, repaired the bastions, parked the 
grounds, and thus restored to Havana this most prized memorial of the 
old days. Havana has grown away from La Fuerza and put it aside as 
a relic, but it still serves a useful purpose as a hall of records for the safe 
keeping of the national archives. In the ancient armor room in an angle 
of the moat a dynamo plant has been installed for lighting the Senate and 
the Palace; thus from out the sixteenth century comes illumination for 
the twentieth. The building is open to the public. The tower should 
be visited for its view of the harbor. Our illustration is from a photo- 
graph in 1902, and shows the American flag over the building Tacon 1, 
which was at that time occupied by the United States engineers. The flag 
of the Cuban Republic is the third which gazers from this old tower have 
seen flying there as symbols of sovereignty. The bell now in the tower 
bears the date 1706. With the exception of the fort at Santo Domingo, 
La Fuerza is the oldest fortification in America. 




THE OLD CHORRERA FORT. 



THE CATHEDRAL. 

The Cathedral is on Empedrado street at the corner of Ignacio. It 
is commonly known to visitors in Havana as the Columbus Cathedral ; 
but the name is La Catedral de la Virgen Maria de la Concepcion — Cathedral 
of the Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception. The edifice, which 
is of the Hispano-American style, with two towers and a dome, is built 
of the native limestone, which is yellowish-white when quarried, but 
soon darkens and grows dingy, and the surface disintegrating gives an 
appearance of great antiquity. The Cathedral was built by the Jesuits 
two centuries ago, in 1704. It occupies the site of an older church. 
Two of the bells in the tower are dated 1664 and 1698 respectively. The 
entrance through a gate at the right of the chapel admits to the triangu- 
lar courtyard. On the right of this is the ecclesiastical courtroom, the 
walls of which are hung with portraits of Bishops of the Island. Be- 
yond are the cloisters and the patio of the Theological Seminary of 
San Carlos. The door on the left opens into the robing room, where 
may be shown the rich vestments of the clergy, magnificent examples of 
embroidery in gold and silver. On the walls are some very old paint- 
ings. From this room steps lead to the high altar and the chance!. The 
interior walls are finished in dark marbles ; the columns are of highly 
polished mahogany with gilt-bronzed capitals; the choir stalls are of 
mahogany, beautifully carved. The high altar is of Carrara marble. 

38 



THE CATHEDRAL. 



39 




IX THE CATHEDRAL. 



The baldachin contains a sculptured image of Our Lady of the Im- 
maculate Conception. The floor in front of the altar is a mosaic of 
colored marble. The fine organ was built in Germany. 

There are many paintings to engage the attention. Those in the dome 
are of Moses and Prophets and Evangelists. Among the paintings on the 
walls are : Abraham and Sarah, to whom the promise is given : Sara 



40 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



uxor tuce £Uum habebit — "Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son." Christ 
and the Woman of Samaria. A small painting reputed to be jy Murillo 
representing the Pope and the Cardinals celebrating mass preparatory to 

the sailing of Columbus. The Madonna del Carmen, the Virgin and Child 
releasing souls from torment, a favorite subject in Spanish ecclesiastical 
art. Maria de la Concepcion, the Immaculate Conception ; the Virgin stands 
on a globe with foot resting upon a serpent, typical of her triumph over a 
world fallen through sin. Above the altar of San Cristobal, St. Christopher, 
the patron saint of Havana, is a picture which represents the giant-statured 
Christopher bearing on his shoulders through the flood the Christ Child, 
who holds the world in His hand. In an ante-chamber off from the altar 
is the chapel of Santa Maria de Loretto, a reproduction of the shrine of 
Loretto in Italy. The legend is that when in the year 1295 the Santa 
Casa or Holy House of Nazareth, the birthplace of the Virgin and the 
scene of the Annunciation, was threatened with profanation at the hands 
of the Saracens, it was borne by angels over land and sea and deposited 
at Loretto, which has ever since been one of the famous shrines of 
Christendom. 

The Cathedral has long been popularly known as the Columbus 
Cathedral, because for more than a century it enshrined certain bones 
which were reputed to be the remains of the Great Discoverer. Dying in 
Valladolid in 1508, Columbus was buried in that city; thence his body was 
transported to Seville, and in 1536, in accordance with a provision of his 
will, was borne across the Atlantic to the island of Santo Domingo and 
deposited in the Cathedral of the city of that name. When in 1795 Santo 
Domingo passed into the possession of the French, the Spaniards were un- 
willing to abandon the Columbus relics to the keeping of an alien race, and 
provided for their removal to Cuba. Certain bones believed to be those 
of Columbus were taken from the vault before the altar in the Santo 
Domingo Cathedral, and were brought to Havana in the Spanish line of 
battle ship San Lorenzo. They were received with great pomp and cere- 
mony, and were deposited in the Cathedral in a niche in the wall of the 
chancel. Afterward they were placed in a magnificent tomb erected in the 
center of the church under the dome, where they remained until the year 
1898, when, upon the evacuation of Havana by the Spanish, they were 
taken back to Spain, and now rest in the Cathedral of Seville. In the 
meanwhile the authorities of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo discovered 
other bones, which they claimed to identify as the real, original and only 
genuine remains of Columbus ; and they have built for them in the 
Cathedral a costly tomb of sculptured marble. 



OBISPO AND O'REILLY. 



The shopping district best known to the visitor in Havana is in Calles 
Obispo and O'Reilly, two of the old narrow streets through which 
wheeled vehicles are permitted to pass in one direction only. The impres- 
sion of narrowness is intensified by the heavy cornices and overhanging 
balconies, and the signs which are suspended above spanning the street; 
while in the sunny hours awnings are stretched across from roof to roof, 
completely covering the street and creating a subdued yellow-toned light 
or dusk, which gives the street with the succession of open shops and their 
varied stocks of goods exposed to view the air of an Eastern bazaar. There 
is also, as one locks down Obispo street from the Albear Park, something 
reminiscent of the Midway. Calle Obispo is Bishop street. When the 
Conde de O'Reilly came to Cuba in 1763, and named the streets of the 
city, which before that time had been unnamed, he called this one O'Reilly 
after himself. 

A peculiarity of shops in Havana is that as a rule they do not bear the 
names of the proprietors, but are called by some fanciful name, as Las 
Ninfas (The Nymphs), La Esperanza (Hope), Truth, The Fair, Modesty, 
Patience, Galatea, La Diana, or some other tiom de guerre. It is true that 
our illustrations do not illustrate this peculiarity, but observation will show 
that the signs like those in the pictures are not the rule, but the excep- 
tion; they are American innovations, net the characteristic way of the 
Cubans. 

The Cubans have a taste for prodigality in grandiloquent or pretty names. Every 
shop, the most humble, has its name. They name the shops after the sun and 
moon and stars; after gods, and goddesses, demi-gods and heroes; after fruits ana. 
flowers, gems and precious stones; a ft er favorite names of women, with pretty, 
fanciful additions; and after all alluring qualities, all delights of the senses, and all 
pleasing affections of the mind. The wards of jails and hospitals are each known 
by some religious or patriotic designation; and twelve guns in the Morro are named 
for the Apostles. Every town has the name of ftn apostle or saint, or of some 
sacred subject. The full name of Havana, in honor of Columbus, is San Cristobal 
de la Habana; and that of Matanzas is San Carlos Alcazar de Matanzas.— R. H. 
Dana, 1859. 

Another time-honored custom of the Cuban merchant is to eat his meals 
in his shop. If we pass along the street at breakfast time, eleven o'clock, 
and look in at the shops, we shall see business suspended, the table spread 
in the middle of the room, and the shopkeeper and his clerks sitting down 
at their meal in the midst of their goods. The custom is universal through- 
out Cuba with the Spanish shopkeepers. The clerks, also Spaniards, un- 
married, live in the shop and board with their employers. They know no 
other dining room, nor parlor nor living room than the shop. 

In Calles Obispo and O'Reilly the tourist will find many articles suitable 

41 



42 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



CALLE OBISPO. 



to take home for souvenirs. In the old days when the toreador was the 
hero of Havana, everybody bought bull fight fans; the bull ring has long 
since been abolished, but people still buy bull fight fans ; they are inex- 
pensive and may be used for room decorations. In the shops devoted 
partly or exclusively to fans, there is wide range of choice as to styles and 
prices; the cost runs from a few cents to hundreds of dollars. Among 



OBISPO AND O'REILLY. 



43 




ARTISTIC GRILLES ARE EVERYWHERE. 

the most expensive are those with sticks of carved ivory inlaid with gold 
and mounted with small oval mirrors on the outer sides and the fans hand- 
painted or embroidered. The use of the fan in Cuba is universal. 

"There is one article without which the Cuban lady would not feel at home for a 
single moment; it is the fan, which is a positive necessity to her, and she learns its 
coquettish and graceful use from early childhood. Formed of various rich materials, 
it glitters in her hand like a gaudy butterfly, now half, now wholly shading her 



44 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



radiant ace, which quickly peeks out again from behind the shelter like the moon 
from out a gilded cloud. The little article (always rich and expensive), perfectly in- 
dispensable in a Cuban lady's costume, in her hands seems almost to speak; she has a 
witching flirt with it that expresses scorn; a graceful wave of complaisance, an abrupt 
closing of it that indicates vexation or anger; a gradual and cautious opening of its 
folds that signifies reluctant forgiveness; in short, the language of the fan in a 
Cuban's hand is an adroit and expressive pantomime that requires no foreign inter- 
preter." 

There are for the women mantillas, Cuban drawn work, hand-made laces 
and embroideries ; and for the men there are walking sticks of mahogany, 
acana, ebony, royal palm or other native woods, or cf a shark's vertebrae; 
Panama hats (jipi japi), or the immense headgear of the Cuban country- 
man, called the guajiro, high-crowned and broad-brimmed, turned up in 
front and turned down behind. It is of braided palm leaves, and if we go 
into the country we may perhaps see a native Cuban hat factory. The 
guajiro makes a good waste basket for papers. Among other native pro- 
ductions are belts and pocketbooks made of the skin of the maja, a harm- 
less Cuban snake of the constrictor species, which sometimes grows to a 
length of twenty feet or more. Then there is some fascinating feather 
work, picturing flowers, birds and cock fights ; with photographs and 
colored views, jewelry, native preserves of guava jelly and marmalade, 
limes, mammey, sour-sop, cocoanut, orange, almond, mango, zapote and 
other fruits peculiar to the tropics. 




'WE MAY PERHAPS SEE A NAT I VK CUBAN HAT FACTORY. 



OBI SPG AND O'REILLY. 



45 




THE OLD CHURCH SAX FRANCISCO DE PAULA. 



One of the most interesting of Havana's church fagades is that of San 
Francisco de Paula, which is on Paula street, south of Paula Park, near 
the water front. 



PARKS AND PRADO. 

Among the alluring features of Havana are the parks and promenades 
and drives which extend from the water front on the Gulf through the 
center of the city out to Principe Hill. The central parkway is the Prado, 
which connects Columbus, India and Central Parks with Punta and the 
Malecon. Beyond Columbus Park are the drives or paseos La Reina, 
Carlos III., and Tacon. The location of all of these is shown on the map. 

Parque Colon (Columbus Park) was originally a mosquito and fever- 
breeding marsh which was drained by the enterprise of that public spirited 
Bishop Espada, whose name is venerated by Cubans for the reforms he 
wrought and the public benefits he secured to them. Tacon laid it out as 
the Campo de Marte (Field of Mars) for a drill ground for the Spanish 
soldiery; inclosed it with a great iron fence, the one which is now in front 
of the Botanical Gardens and the President' Summer Palace, on the Paseo 

del Carlos III., and asso- 
ciated his own name with 
those of the great Spanish 
explorers by calling the 
four gates Colon, Cortes, 
Pizarro and Tacon. The 
bitter fruits of a State 
policy which necessitated 
a drill ground for its sol- 
diery were grimly illus- 
trated in the '90s, when 
the Campo de Marte was 
filled with a multitude 
of wretched, starving re- 
concentrados. A year or 
two later the field was 
whitened with the crowd- 
ing tents of the American 
soldiers. When the Amer- 
icans carne into possession 
of Havana and instituted 
that ser'es of public works 
which regenerated the city, 
they cleaned up the parks, 
renov-ited and improved 
them, and planted grass 
I IHHK^^tffliiii^l BBBBBBBBB lawns, which were the first 
"habana." pver seen in Havana. The 

46 





IN COLON PARK. 



4 8 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




INDIA PARK. 



Campo de Marti was transformed into the Parque Colon, which has 
developed with the years and become an attractive pleasure ground with 
palms and shrubs and tropical flowers and fountains. 

In India Park, adjoining Colon, is the well known India Fountain (La 
Fuente de la India) which was presented to the city by Count Villanueva, 
whose estate was here, and after whom the Villanueva station of the 
United Railways takes its name. The fountain is of marble, and was done 
in Rome. The pedestal supports the seated figure of an Indian maiden 
allegorical of Havana. She wears a headdress of feathers and has a quiver 
of arrows. In one hand is held a cornucopia, in the other a shield with 
the Arms of the City; conventional sea monsters complete the design. In 
the old days a Military Band played in India Park every evening from 
eight to nine. 

From here a broad avenue, parked and shaded with laurels, extends 
north; this was formerly called after Queen Isabel III., Parque Isabel 
la Catolica, but is now a part of the Prado. The Pasaje Hotel and the 
Payret Theater front on this part of the Prado connecting India and 
Central Parks. 



50 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




A RELIC OF THE OLD CITY WALL. 



In Central Park (Parque Central), the features which first attract 
attention are the laurel trees trimmed to formal shapes. The under part 
of the foliage is cut in a perfectly level and horizontal plane, square across 
the tree, forming a green roof above the walks and flower beds and 
benches This mode of trimming is extended to the laurels of the Prado, 
and the effect is an unique example of formal landscape gardening. There 
are royal poincianas, almonds and other decorative trees, and parterres of 
flowers and masses of foliage tree plants contribute a wealth of decoration 
in striking colors. 

Central Park is in the very midst of Havana's social life. Cool and 
inviting as is the shade of its laurels from the glare of the sun, the park 
is even more attractive at night. If it be a concert evening, the thousands 
of park seats are occupied and the walks crowded with well dressed men 
and women; electric light floods the place; the surrounding clubs and 
hotels, restaurants and cafes are ablaze with illumination, and the scene is 
animated and brilliant. If the season be advanced to April or May, when 
the royal' poincianas or flamboyant trees are in flower, they add great 




JOSE MARTI MONUMENT IN CENTRAL PARK. 



Jose Marti (born in Havana, 1853; died in battle, 1895), Cuba's great Apostle of 
Freedom, was the animating spirit of the revolution of 1895. The monument is by the 
distinguished Cuban sculptor, J. Yilaeta de Saavedra, who has written ot it: 

"The figure represents the apostle, Marti, in the act of addressing the Cuban 
people just after he has once more given to the winds the single-starred banner of 
freedom which was furled at Zanjon. Inspired by him, the Cubans in 1895 threw 
themselves into the second war of independence. In high relief around the pedestal 
I have symbolized their action; there are sculptured nineteen figures, which show 
this nation moving forward, men, young and old, armed and unarmed; women and 
children, all eager, straining toward the goal ahead, which is — Independence. And 
overshadowing them with her great white wings is Victory bearing the palm of peace." 

The date, February 24, 1895, is of the beginning of the revolution. The dedication 
is: Al Apostol Jose Marti. La P atria Redimida— To the Apostle Jose Marti. The 
Country Redeemed. 



52 



rHE STANDARD GUIDE. 



masses of bright crimson blooms, which glow in the electric light with a 
richness of color intensified by contrast with the foliage of the royal 
palm and the deep blue of the sky; for the Havana heaven at night is blue, 
not black. Music is given here, or on the Malecon, on Tuesday, 
Thursday, Saturday and Sunday evenings and Sunday afternoon. During 
the concert a charge of five cents is made for the chairs; formerly these 
seats in the parks were a private concession ; they now belong to the city. 
The Municipal Band, under the direction of Sefior G. M. Tomas, enjoys a 
high reputation ; it was one of the musical organizations that took honors 
at the Buffalo Exposition of 1902. This is a typical programme of a 
Havana park concert : 

PROGRAMA DEL CONCIERTO DE LA BANDA MUNICIPAL 
En la noche del Domingo, 15 de Mayo de 1914, en el Parque Central 
de 8 a 10 P. M. 

1. Paso doble "Oportunidad" Schremser 

2. Fantasia "L'Asedio de Arbem" Verdi 

3. "Polonesa" Chopin 

4. Seleccion de "Lohengrin" Wagner 

5. Poema Sinfonico "Phaeton" Saint Saens 

6. Two Step "Bedelia" Schwartz 

7. Danzon "Alquizar" Cisneros 

El Director, G. M. Tomas. 

In former times Spanish soldiers were everywhere, in the parks, on the 
promenades and drives and at the evening" concerts. 1 hey were present 
in force to do police duty, but the policeman is not now in evidence at 
Havana park concerts, nor does there appear to be any need of him. 
One is likely to note the quiet, orderly and courteous bearing of the gather- 
ing, and to compare it not unfavorably with other night cro^ r ds^he has 
seen in other cities. 

On the west of the park are the new home of the Centro Gallego, and 
the Inglaterra and Telegrafo hotels. On the east is the club house of 
the Centro Asturiano and the Albisu Theatre. 

In Monserrate Plaza, just off from Central Park, at the head of 
Obispo and O'Reilly streets, and thus in the very heart of the city life, 
stands the monument of General Francisco de Albear, the distinguished 
Cuban engineer whom Havana holds in grateful memory as the author of 
the Vento water system. Albear was born in Havana in 181 1, and was 
graduated as civil engineer at Madrid. He served in the Spanish army 
and was made commandant in recognition of his mnstery of coast de- 
fense; but he has left a more beneficent work as his crowning achieve- 
ment and title to fame, the celebrated Vento aqueduct which bears his 
name. He died in Havana in 1889. The justly admired monument is the work 
of the Cuban sculptor Saavedra. The life-size statue is supported upon a 
pedestal which is carved with fasces, wreath and engineering emblems, and 
bears the dedication, in Spanish : "The City of Havana has erected this 



ft THE STANDARD GUIDE. 

monument to her illustrious son, D. Francisco de Albear y Lara." 

Havana is symbolized by a dignified female figure bearing on her breast 
the castles and the key of the city's escutcheon. Royal palms contribute 
their peculiar grace to the setting. 

That part of the Prado which lies between Central Park and the 
Malecon was the original Calle del Prado — Street of the Meadow — which 
took its name from the famous Prado of Madrid, celebrated by Lope de 
Vega and other poets. It lay outside the city walls, and like its prototype 
was designed for a fashionable promenade and drive. The Prado was 
one of the public institutions Governor Tacon gave to Havana, and like so 
many of the works constructed by him, it was built by convict labor. In 
the books of travelers who visited the town in those days, frequent men- 
tion is made of the Havana chain gangs. Many of the public buildings 
were built and the streets were paved to the clanking of their chains. 
In Tacon's time these workers in stone were called "Tacon's lapidarians." 

Tiiere are streaks of a clear dawn; it is nearly 6 o'clock, the cocks are crowing, 
and the drums and trumpets sounding. We have been told of sea baths, cut in the 
rock, near the Punta, at the foot of our Paseo. I walk down, under the trees, toward 
the Presidio. What is this clanking sound? Can it be cavalry, marching on foot, 
their sabres rattling on the pavement? No, it comes from that crowd of poor looking 
creatures that are forming in files in front of the Presidio. It is the chain-gang! 
Poor wretches! I come nearer to them, and wait until they are formed and num- 
bered and marched off. Each man has an iron band riveted round his ankle, and 
another around his waist, and the chain is fastened, one end into each of these 
bands, and dangles between them, clanking with every movement. This leaves the 
wearers free to use their arms, and, indeed, their whole body, it being only a weight 
and a badge and a note for discovery, from which they cannot rid themselves. It 
is kept on them day and night, working, eating or sleeping. In some cases two are 
chained together. They have passed their night in the Presidio (the great prison 
and garrison), and are marshalled for their day's toil in the public streets and on 
the public works, in the heat of the sun. They look thoroughly wretched. Can 
any of these be political offenders? It is said that Carlists, from old Spain, worked 
in this gang. Sentence to the chain-gang in summer, in the case of a foreigner, must 
be nearly certain death. — R. H. Dana, 1859. 

The Prado was largely remodeled by the Americans, who laid the fine 
concrete walks. The avenue consists of a central double promenade lined 
with seats, and a drive on each side, the carriage course being up one side 
and down the other in a continuous round. This is fashionable Havana's 
parade ground on Sunday afternoon; the drive is filled with a concourse 
of smart equipages, the promenades are crowded, and from the windows 
and balconies of the houses people exchange greetings with their friends 
in the gay throng. The Prado is a scene of unrestrained gaiety at the time 
of the Carnival festivities. The walks and the driveways are thronged 
with maskers and merrymakers, the houses are crowded with spectators, 
and paper streamers and confetti fill the air. The residences which line the 
Prado are among the finest houses in Havana. Fronting on the east are 
the Spanish Casino and the new white marble club house of the Centro de 
la Asociacion de Dependientes, or Association of Clerks. 



56 THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




CARCEL AND PRESIDIO. 



Near the foot of the Prado, and occupying one of the most prominent 
sites in the city, is the immense yellow building of the Havana Carcel, 
which is not infrequently mistaken by tourists for the Palace. It is used as 
a Carcel or city jail, with entrance on the Prado, and a Presidio or peni- 
tentiary for the island, entrance on Zulueta street, and also contains 
an audiencia or court room. It was built in 1839 by Governor-General 
Tacon, chiefly by convict labor of chain gangs made up of runaway 
slaves, white malefactors and Carlist prisoners from Spain; and it is 
recorded that Tacon financed the undertaking with certain public funds 
which, before his time, had been diverted by dishonest officials, The 
building is 300 by 240 feet, and surrounds a large interior court or patio, 
which is filled with shrubbery. It has room for 5,000 men; there have 
been at times 1,000 prisoners within its walls. There were 600 here when 
the Americans came to Havana, many of whom had been incarcerated 
for years without trial. One hundred of this class were released, and 
of sixty others the sentences were commuted. The Americans cleaned 
up the dreadfully filthy building, and introduced many reforms of 
administration. The Carcel contains the garrote, which is the Cuban 
instrument of capital punishment. It consists of a semi-circular iron 
band or collar, which fits the front part of the victim's neck; and has in 
the back of it a screw, which, working on the principle of the screw of 
a letter-copying press, presses against the first vertebra near the 
junction of the skull. A sudden turn of the screw crushes the bene and 
spinal cord, and death is instantaneous. While the garrote is held in 
universal infamy, largely for the reason that so many martyrs of the 
Cuban cause were executed by it, it is nevertheless a merciful instru- 
ment of death. Garroting is pronounced by physicians to be more humane 
than hanging. Executions formerly were public spectacles. To turn to 
lighter things, it may be recalled that in the old days in Havana male- 
factors were scourged in public, the victim bein^ paraded through the 



PARKS AXD PRADO. 



57 



streets, mounted backwards on a mule, and whipped at various designated 
points in the city until his full complement of lashes had been received. 

When Tacon chose this site for his prison, the spot was far outside 
the city wall, and near-by, where the Students' Memorial now stands, 
was the place of public execution. But however remote from the life of 
Havana the Carcel may have been when it was established, the growth 
of the town and the extension of the park systems have given it a con- 
spicuousness and nearness to the city's pleasure grounds which are 
seriously deprecated. It thrusts itself upon the notice of the throngs 
of the Prado and the Malecon, and is out of harmony with the sur- 
roundings. The American government of intervention entertained a 
pian to remove the jail prisoners to the Hospital Militar. at the head 
of the harbor, and the penitentiary convicts to the Cabana, and thus to 
make the splendid building available for public offices; but the scheme 
was abandoned. A more recent proposition is a plan to utilize the 
magnificent site for a hotel. The Carcel was listed in a city schedule in 
1900 at $464,000. 

Just beyond the northern end of the Carcel. where an armed guard keeps 
watch by day and by night, is the Students' Memorial. The simple panel is 




LAL'RELS OF THE PRADO. 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



set in a fragment of the wall of the old Commissary Building, which stood 

here in the days when Havana was full of Spanish troops. When the 
building was demolished by the Americans, in the general rearrangement 
and parking of the land around the Punta, this bit was preserved as a 
fitting memorial of one of the tragic incidents in Havana's history. The 
ground in front of the wall was a place of public execution ; it was here 
that certain students of the University of Havana were sacrificed to the 
animosity of the Spanish Volunteers. 

It was the rule in Cuba that all offices — civil, military and ecclesiastic — 
were filled by Spaniards born in Spain. Even the Cuban-born sons of 
Spanish parents were disqualified from holding office. The children of the 
first generation were counted Cubans, not Spaniards ; the old saying ran, 
"A Spaniard can do anything in Cuba except raise a Spaniard son." The 
natives of Spain were called Peninsulars ; the natives of Cuba Insulars, 
and the feeling between the two was bitter. The Peninsulars organized 
themselves into a militia corps of volunteers (Instituto de los Volunterios 
de Cuba) commonly known as "Spanish Volunteers," answering to the 
National Guard of the United States. In 1872 the Corps numbered 80,000 
men. Their duties were to guard towns and public property, suppress dis- 
order, and when occasion demanded to fight Cuban insurgents. In 1871, 
when the Ten Years' War (1868-78) was in progress, there was printed 
in Havana a paper called "La Voz de Cuba," the "Voice of Cuba." Its 
editor, Gonzalo Castanon, a Colonel of the Volunteers, published some 
derogatory remarks concerning Cuban women. The calumny aroused 
intense indignation among the outraged Cubans. Castanon was chal- 
lenged to fight a duel, and in an encounter with a Cuban was killed, and 
was buried in one of the dove-cote like tombs of the Espada Cemetery. 
A party of students of the Medical School of the University of Havana 
were one day visiting the cemetery, and while near the tomb of Castanon, 
one of them said something which reflected upon the dead Colonel of 
Volunteers. A Spanish soldier overheard the remark, and repeated it to 
a Spanish judge, with a further accusation that the students had defaced 
the glass which closed the Castanon tomb. Forty-three of the students 
were arrested, charged with the offense, and brought to trial before a court 
martial. They were defended by a Spanish officer, Capdevilla, and by his 
eloquence and the clear evidence of their innocence, were acquitted. The 
result of the trial enraged the Volunteers, and they obtained from the 
Captain-General an order for the assembling of a second court mauial, 
two-thirds of the members of which should be Volunteers. The boys were 
a second time arrested and a second time put in jeopardy of their lives. 
After a trial which was a farce, all the accused were declared guilty. Eight 
of them, mere boys, the oldest sixteen years, were chosen by lot to be shot. 
The rest were sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor. The father of one 
of the boys condemned to death, who possessed an immense fortune, in 



PARKS AND PRADO. 



59 




THE STUDENTS MEMORIAL. 

vain offered all his wealth as a ransom for his son's life. On November 
27, 1871, in the presence of 15,000 Spanish Volunteers under arms, the 
boys were executed on this spot. The panel records the event and the 
names of the victims: 

On the 27th of November, 1871, there were sacrificed in front of this place, by the 
Spanish Volunteers of Havana, the eight young Cuban students of the First Year 
of Medicine: 

Alonso Alvarez de la Campa, Jose de Marcos Medina, 

Carlos Augusto de Latorre, Eladio Gonzalez Toledo, 

Pascual Rodriguez Perez, Anacleto Bermudez, 

Angel Laborde, Carlos Yerdugo. 

To their eternal memory, this tablet is dedicated, the 27th of November, 1899. 

In the bronze wreath beneath is inscribed "Inocentes." Sus companeros. 
20 de Mayo, 1902 — "Innocent." Their Comrades. May 20, 1902. 

The affair created intense indignation everywhere; the Spanish Cortes 
investigated the case and formally pronounced the students guiltless, Some 
years after a son of Castanon came to Cuba from Spain for his father's 
remains. He was attended at the tomb by a notary public, before whom 
he made declaration, as the result of his examination then, that the tomb 
had never been disturbed. In 1888 the Students' Monument in memory of 
the martyred boys was provided by popular subscription, and is now one 
of the chief adornments of the Colon Cemetery. 



6o 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



The Castillo San Salvador de la Punta (Punta means point) is situated 
immediately on the water front on a jutting point which narrows the 
harbor entrance. It is a small stone bastioned work which was begun in 
1659 under direction of the engineers of the Morro. It is described in 1762 
as being situated 200 yards from the Punta Gate of the city walls, from 
which it was separated by a ditch crossed by. a drawbridge. The batteries 
of La Punta were intended to supplement the heavier artillery of the larger 
fort across the harbor. In the siege of Havana by the British, La Punta 
was silenced only after the guns of the Morro in the hands of the enemy 
had been turned upon it, and its surrender marked the end of the city's 
resistance. The work is now used as a barracks by the Rural Guard. 

No longer useful as a fortified defense, La Punta has become the central 
point of the park improvements here designed and carried out by the Ameri- 
can government of intervention. The American engineers demolished the 
unsightly buildings surrounding the fortification, laid out the grounds as 
a park, and transformed the waste spaces from a receptacle for all sorts 
of refuse into a well kept park and popular recreation ground. The shore 
beyond the west bastion was formerly a dumping ground and one of the 
low quarters of the city. This, too, the Americans set about reclaiming 
and making beautiful. They found certain conditions peculiarly favorable 
for an extension of the park and boulevard system along the shore. 
These conditions resulted from the operation of the Spanish law under 
which the land washed by the waves of the sea at the highest tides and 
during storms is the property of the State. Landward from this shore 
property another strip also, denominated a service zone, was reserved for 
public uses. Rights of occupancy for these lands were granted only by 
royal orders, and only temporary rights were given. Under the operation 
of these laws Havana's sea front had been unbuilt on except for fortifica- 
tions and for temporary bath houses ; so that there was left a bare space 
along the shore from La Punta west to the Almendares River at Vedado. It 
had long been the desire of the Havana authorities to utilize this space for a 
parkway and shore drive, and in 1875 General Albear had drawn up a plan 
for the purpose; this had never been adopted, however, nor did the Ameri- 
can authorities follow it. Under a project prepared by the Chief Engineer, 
Major Wm. M. Black, they built the Malecon and its music stand, and 
began the construction of Gulf Avenue. 

The Malecon (the Spanish word means embankment or wall) consists 
of a substantial sea wall, extending in a curved line from the northwest 
bastion of La Punta to the west side of the end of the Prado, protecting 
for this entire length a broad concrete promenade and a macadamized 
driveway. The wall stands about thirty feet back from the high water-line, 
and an inclined toe with stones projecting above its face breaks the force 
of the waves in a storm. In the center of the park thus formed is a music 
stand of classical design, with twenty Ionic columns supporting an 



IN VEDADO. 



entablature and dome, and inscribed with names of the great composers. 
The Malecon overlooks the Gulf, the harbor entrance with its shipping, 
and Morro Castle on the opposite heights, Gulf Avenue extending in sweep- 
ing curves to the west, and in the distance the verdant hills back of 
Vedado. The landscapes and marine vistas are like painted pictures. 
Havana's water front is one of the noblest among the cities of the 
world. The colors of sea and sky and tinted houses, with the moss-grown 
forts and waving palms, create an effect which is striking at any time of the 
day, but sunset is the hour of enchantment. Nor should one fail to visit 
the Malecon at night, when the long line of electric lights on the water- 
front toward Vedado are reflected in quivering bars and bands of radiance 
from the water, the lights of the electric cars are seen creeping along the 
distant heights, and the lantern of the Morro glows and dims and glows 
again. To see the Malecon by moonlight, to mingle with the pleasure 
throngs, hear the music and feel the caress of the soft Gulf air, is one of 
the most enjoyable experiences of Havana. 

It has been said that all this part of Havana is outside of the line of the 
old city wall. At Refugio street and the projected Avenida de las Palmas, 
just east of the Prado, a remnant of the wall may still be seen. 



MORRO CASTLE. 



The route is by boat from any of the boat landings. Fare, 10 cents each way. 

For the beginning of the Morro we must go back to the days oi 
Francis Drake, the Englishman of the sixteenth century who was the 
scourge of Spain on sea and land, in the Old World and the New; 
that El Draque, "the Dragon," who was well hated of ail Spaniards 
while he lived, and over whom, dead, Lope de Vega sang a paean. In 
1585, returning from the sack of Carthagena, Drake appeared before 
Havana and threatened the town; but there was little here to tempt 
him then, and after a brief blockade, the Englishmen withdrew, making 
no other spoil of Cuba, as the journal of one of them runs, than "re- 
freshing themselves with store of Turtles' Eggs by Day and taking 250 
Turtles by Night, which, being powdered and dried, did them much 
Service." But Drake's menace of Havana was not without its effect. 
"This event," writes the Spanish historian Arrete, "and more probably 
the perfect conviction how essential the safety of the port was to the 
security of trade and navigation between the two kingdoms of Old 
Spain and New Spain, enlightened the King, our Lord Felipe II., sur- 
named The Prudent, to foresee, with his great policy and incomparable 
penetration, that what was then but a temptation to a few private cor- 




ON THE RAMPARTS LOOKING NORTH. 

63 



6 4 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



sairs, would become, in the future, an object of desire to crowned heads. 
He therefore directed the construction of an imperial fortress, worthy 
of his royal design and capable of making the harbor impregnable." 
And so in 1587, the plans having been drawn by the Engineer Don 
Juan Bautista Antoneli, and a force of convicts and slaves having been 
provided to do the work, the coral rock was quarried out for the moats, 
and there was built here the fortress named Castillo de los Tres Reyes 
del Morro — Castle of the Three Kings of the Morro — which title was 
in usage shortened to Castillo del Morro, or simply El Morro. The 
Spanish word morro means "headland" or "promontory," and is ap- 
plied to any fortress having such a position. There is a Morro at San- 
tiago and another at San Juan in Puerto Rico. The Havana Morro 
as completed in 1597 was a fac-simile of a Moorish fortress at Lisbon, 
but it has been much altered in design since then. It is an irregular 
fortification, from 100 to 120 feet above the level of the sea, surrounded 
by moats 70 feet deep, 30 feet of which are hewn out of solid rock. It 
stands on a bold headland jutting out into the Gulf; its most prominent 
feature is the light tower, whose flash is visible eighteen miles at 
sea. In storms the spray dashes over the ramparts. The waves are 
forever breaking against the base, and in the 300 years since the Morro 
was built the water has worn away the rock and eaten out great 
crevices, into which, under certain conditions of wind and tide, it pours, 
compressing the air and forcing it out with weird and uncanny noises. 

The Morro is in part built on solid rock, and in part hewn out of the 
rock. It has the character of a prodigious natural formation, shaped 
and modified by the hand of man. The ascent to the entrance is by an 
inclined road, which is shaded by royal poincianas and laurels, and 
hedged with impenetrable cactus, above which tower the moss-grown 
walls. The moat is crossed by a drawbridge to the sallyport, and the 
hall, between dark rooms, admits to the central court. All about us 
are prison-like rooms, casemates, storerooms, kitchens, magazines, 
bomb-proofs and dungeons, with grated embrasures, vaulted roofs and 
dark recesses. The walls are of formidable heights, the ditches of 
astonishing depths. It is not at all a cheerful place, and when we come 
to a narrow, steep, high-stepped stairway descending into the interior 
depths, we feel no desire to explore its mysterious darkness, but turn 
instead to the more inviting way which leads up to the ramparts. Here 
we have a view well worth coming from Havana to behold, over harbor 
and town and gulf. On the seaward side we are directly over the sea, 
and looking down into its clear depths perhaps discern one of the 
monstrous sharks for which these waters have an evil notoriety. When 
the Morro was occupied by a garrison, the sharks resorted here for the 
garbage thrown into the sea; a stone chute is built in the seaward wall, 
through which waste was thrown; and it is among the traditions of 



MORRO CASTLE. 



6i 




THE ROAD FROM THE WATER. 



Morro that through this same passage the bodies of Cuban prisoners 
who had been executed were cast down into the nido de tiburones — "the 
sharks' nest." 

The stone building on the harbor side of the ramparts contains a 
well equipped signal service station. The semaphore, with its numerous 
flags and signals, announces to the town the approach of ships bound 
to this port, and receives and sends messages to passing vessels. The 
lighthouse was built in 1844 by Governor-General O'Donnell, whose 
Irish-Spanish name is immortalized in huge letters high up on the face 
of the tower. The lantern is a Fresnel lens, showing a white light, flashing 
every half minute, and visible eighteen miles at sea. 

The guns are not of great age, nor yet of the most modern type of 
coast defense. It is believed that the walls would not stand the shock 
of firing heavy guns. Below the castle, on the harbor side, down by the 
water, are the guns of the Battery of the Twelve Apostles, each of the 
twelve having its apostolic name. These are the most powerful *uns 



66 



THE STANDARD GUIDE, 



on the Island. They command the mouth of the harbor. Five hundred 
yards beyond is the battery called La Pastora— The Pastor. East of 
the castle, commanding the sea, is the Velasco Battery, named in honor 
of that Captain Velasco whose fame is indelibly associated with the 
history of Morro. A tablet set in the wall of the northeast bastion 
proclaims that it was placed here in honor of Captain Luis de Velasco 
and Marques de Gonzalez, who fell in defense of the works. The con- 
flict in which they had part is the only momentous chapter in the history 
of Morro Castle, and may be told in brief here. 

The Siege of Havana. 

On the afternoon of June 6, 1762, the Captain-General Don Juan de 
Prado Porto Carrero received in Havana notice from the Morro that a 
fleet of 200 sail had been sighted off the coast. It was the British fleet, 
of whose rumored coming he had been incredulous and for which he 
was unprepared. Consternation prevailed, alarm bells were rung, there 
was hasty assembling of troops, the inhabitants were enrolled and 
armed with muskets, a council of war was convened, and Colonel Don 
Carlos Caro was dispatched with infantry and cavalry to meet the enemy 
at Cojimar. A Spanish squadron of twelve ships was in the harbor, and 
to the naval officers was entrusted the defense of the city. Command 
of Morro was given to Don Luis de Puente Velasco, captain of the Reyna 
ship of the line, with Marques de Gonzalez second in command; to 
Don Manuel Briseno, captain of one of the other ships, was given 
Castillo de la Punta, and 9,000 of the men of the squadron were detailed 
for shore duty. Then the Captain-General issued a formal proclamation of 
war against Great Britain, and assembled his forces. Cavalry, infantry, 
artillery, seamen, militia and citizens, white and black, all told there were 
27,610. The greater part of the force was stationed at Gnanabacoa, on 
the side of the bay opposite Havana, for the enemy was off Cojimar. 

The British fleet was under command of Admiral Sir George Pocock, 
with Lord Albemarle in command of the land troops. Great Britain, 
France and Spain being at war, the expedition had come to capture and 
plunder Havana, the key of Spain's vast dominion in America. There 
were 200 ships of the line, brigs, sloops and transports, with 14,041 
troops mustered from England, Jamaica and North America. The fleet 
lay to off Cojimar, six miles east of the Morro, took the Cojimar fort 
and disembarked the troops. The next day, the 8th of June, Colonel 
Carleton repulsed the Spanish cavalry at Guanabacoa, and the entire 
Spanish force retired toward Havana. The panic in the city was re- 
doubled. The monks from the monasteries and the nuns from the con- 
vents and the women and children were sent out of the town under 
escort; but no man able to bear arms was permitted to pass the gates. 
All those portions of the town which lay outside the walls were re- 



MORRO CASTLE. 



6- 




THE MORRO, WITH CABANA IN THE DISTANCE. 



duced to ashes and three warships were sunk at the mouth of the har- 
bor to prevent entry by the British. 

The Englishmen made a second landing at Chorrera, east of the city, 
and took the fort there. They carried Cabanas Hill, established them- 
selves on the heights commanding the Morro, and set about the build- 
ing of batteries and equipping them from the fleet. Much of the hard 
work was done by negro slaves brought from Martinique and Antigua 
for the purpose. The task was completed by the end of June, and on 
the 1st of July the fleet on sea and the batteries on land opened fire on 
Morro. Captain Velasco responded, and with grapeshot and ball forced 
the ships to retire. For two weeks active fighting continued. Again 
and again the Spanish fortress was silenced, only to draw reinforce- 
ments from the ships in the bay, and to renew the fight on the morrow. 
La Punta and La Fuerza, the fleet and the floating batteries in the 
harbor trained their guns on the British. The besieging force suffered 
intensely from the drought, the excessive heat, deprivation and hard- 
ship, and fevers contracted at Martinique: at one time 5.000 soldiers 
and 3,000 seamen were unfit for service. Their sufferings were aggra- 
vated by the scarcity of water. 

By the 14th the whole front of Morro exposed to attack was in a 
state of complete ruin; but the Spaniard still held out. Sapping 
operations were begun, and by the 27th a mine had been completed 
under the seaward bastion and was ready to be charged. Lord Albe- 



MORRO CASTLE. 



marie sent a letter to Captain Velasco informing him of the fact, setting 
forth the hopelessness of the situation, and throwing upon him as the 
governor of the castle the responsibility for further bloodshed; and he 
assured him of his conviction that if the King of Spain were himself 
present he would be the first to make a capitulation. To which Don 
Luis answered that he declined his Lordship's overtures, and declared his 
firm resolution to defend the castle to the end. The next day the mine 
was fired, a breach in the wall made, and the British, storming the 
entrance thus made, rushed into the works and quickly made them- 
selves masters of the place. In the charge Captain Velasco fell, mor- 
tally wounded. Attended by a British lieutenant as a mark of cour- 
tesy, he was taken under flag of truce across the bay to the city, that 
there he might be the better cared for. He died the next day. Hos- 
tilities were suspended for his funeral. As his body was borne to its 
tomb in one of the churches, the salutes of the Spanish guns in Havana 
were answered by those of the British across the bay. In the report 
of Sir George Pocock to the Admiralty, the Englishman paid a just 
tribute to the gallantry of the Spanish commander. For the conduct of 
Velasco in the defense of the Morro, the Spanish monarch created his 
son Vizconde del Morro, and decreed that a ship in the Spanish Navy 
should always bear the name of Velasco. The war vessel so named at 
the time of the Spanish-American war (built in 1881) was one of the 
fleet at Manila and was sunk by the American ship Boston. 

In the assault Velasco's second in command, Marques de Gonzalez, 
fell, sword in hand, defending his flag. Of the garrison, 130 men were 
killed, 400 were wounded and many were drowned in attempting to 
escape to the city. 

And now a strange thing happened. La Punta and the batteries of the 
city turned their guns on Morro; the Spanish fortress was the target 
of Spanish cannon fire; and Morro, in the hands of the enemy and flying 
an alien flag, discharged its shot against the city it had been put here 
to defend. In the face of such unequal conditions Havana could not 
long hold out. On the nth of July the whole of the English batteries 
of forty-one guns were opened on the city. Punta Castle was silenced 



"A Plan of the Siege of the Havana. Drawn by an officer on the spot." Here 
reproduced from the original in the Gentleman's Magazine, London, September, 1762. 
References: 3. The Dragon against Cojimar. 4. Where the army first encamped. 
5. Where the cannon, etc., were landed. 6. Batteries against the Morro. 7. The 
Dragon, Cambridge and Marlborough against the Morro. 8. The bombs against the 
Puntal. 9. The Belleisle against Chorera fort. 10. Batteries against the Puntal. 
11. Batteries against the Cavannos hill. 12. Holtzers against the shipping. 13. Three 
Spanish men of war sunk. 14. One company's ship overset. 15. The chain and 
bomb. 16. Spanish admiral and fleet. 17. Two ships on the stocks. 18. Admiral 
Pocock with the men of war and transports. 19. Commodore Keppel with ditto. 
20. Camp at the water mills. 21. Fortified houses. 21. Headquarters. 



70 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



at 10 o'clock, and abandoned; and at noon a parliamento carried a flag 
of truce to Lord Albemarle's headquarters to propose a capitulation. 
On the 14th, being two months and eight days after the fleet's arrival, 
the British took formal possession of the Punta gate of the city and of 
all fortifications; and the British flag was hoisted over Havana. In 
consideration of the gallant defense of the Morro the Spanish troops 
were permitted to march out with arms, colors flying, drums beating, 
matches lighted, and all the honors of war. The total Spanish loss dur- 
ing the siege was 1,000 men; the British lost 1,790 men in all. 

It is an interesting circumstance that among the British forces, men 
from England and from the American Colonies— Massachusetts, Con- 
necticut, New York and New Jersey— who fought here together in the 
siege of Morro, were many who a few years later were to find themselves 
arrayed on opposing sides in the conflict of the American Revolution. 

The Englishmen who reduced the Morro in 1762 were moved by the 
spirit which animated the Englishman who two centuries earlier had 
prompted its building. The expedition of Admiral Pocock and Lord 
Albemarle was for spoil; it was one of those enterprises of plunder 
and adventures of loot which are among the cogent arguments of war. 
In addition to 300 cannon, an extensive armament and an immense 
store of ammunition, the British spoil included nine warships, several 
merchant vessels and their cargoes, and large stores of tobacco and 
other commodities awaiting export, other articles and money — a total 
of ^"736,185. The money was not extorted without demur by the 
Spaniards. When Colonel Cleveland, the British officer in command 
of the artillery, made a demand on the Bishop requiring an accounting 
of the bells in the churches and convents and monasteries of Havana 
and other towns in the district and on the sugar plantations, and of all 
metal used in the making of such bells, that the value might be adjusted 
and the amount paid, according to the laws and customs of war when 
a city after a siege has surrendered by capitulation, to the commander 
of the artillery as a gratification — the Bishop offered $1,000. Colonel 
Cleveland demanded $30,000. An appeal by the Bishop to Lord Al- 
bemarle reduced it to $10,000. The Bishop pleaded poverty and took 
up a collection, which yielded $103. Colonel Cleveland then fixed a time 
when the money must be produced, and the Bishop paid the $10,000. It 
was then Lord Albemarle's turn. He wrote to the Bishop: 

"Most Illustrious Sir: I am sorry to be under the necessity of writing 
to your Lordship what ought to have been thought of some days ago, 
viz., a donation from the church to the Commander-in-Chief of the 
victorious army. The least that your Lordship can offer will be $100,- 
000. I wish to live in peace with your Lordship and the church, as I 
have shown in all that has hitherto occurred, and I hope that your 
Lordship will not give me reason to alter my intention. I kiss your 



MORRO CASTLE. 



7i 



Lordship's hands. Your humble servant, Albemarle. Havana, 19th 
October 1762." 

To this new demand the Bishop demurred even more obstinately than 
before; and the money was forthcoming only after Lord Albemarle had 
issued a proclamation declaring that the conduct of the Bishop was 
seditious, and threatening to expel him from Cuba and send him to 
Florida on a British warship. 

Lord Albemarle further exacted that one of the churches should be 
designated for the use of the troops for worship ; and when the Bishop 
refused to name one, he selected that of San Francisco. The edifice was 
in consequence considered desecrated, and was devoted to secular purposes. 
It is now a customs warehouse. 

The British standard waved over the Morro for a year, and then the 
fortress was restored to Spain. The joy of the Havanese was extreme 
when they saw the national banner floating once more from the ram- 
parts and knew that their city was no longer sullied by the presence of 
the heretics. They attributed their deliverance to the intercession of 
Our Lady of the Rosary, for they saw something miraculous in the 
abandonment of a prize so rich and important. Annually, for a half- 
century afterward, on the 6th of July, they celebrated in the church of 
Santo Domingo the anniversary of their deliverance. A French traveler, 
present at this celebration in 1819, has recorded his surprise at the 
mildness of the fulminations from the pulpit against the British. 




SAN FRANCISCO — CUSTOMS WAREHOUSE. 



CABANA. 



The Fortification of Cabana— or, to give it the full title, Castillo 
de San Carlos de la Cabana — occupies an elevated site on the hill, which 
rises 100 feet almost abruptly from the water's edge across the harbor 
from Havana. The route is by the harbor boats from Caballeria 
or Machina wharf or the Punta landing. The fare is 10 cents each way. 
The steep ascent from the shore and the long walk through the fortifi- 
cation are likely to be fatiguing for a woman. 

The harbor frontage is practically a continuous wall extending along 
the crest of the hill. The landward side has three pronounced bastions, 
and is protected by ditches 40 feet deep. The principal entrance is on 
this front. A drawbridge, which may be raised by the heavy chains, 
leads across the ditch to the sallyport. The legend above the entrance 
sets forth that the work was begun during the reign of Carlos III., in 
the year 1763, and was completed in 1774. The escutcheon displays the 
castles and dragons of the Arms of Spain, with crown, and necklace of 
the Golden Fleece. From the entablature grin two grotesques, hideous 
and repulsive, fit genii of the place. ( 

'Entering through the vaulted hall, we come shortly to the Laurel 
Ditch — Los Fosos de los Laureles — so named from the laurel trees 
which grow here. This was the place of execution of insurgents and 
political prisoners during the Cuban revolution. In those days, persons 
who took part in the revolution, or who were merely suspected, whether 
rightly or wrongly, of sympathy with the cause, were arbitrarily 
arrested by order of the Captain-General, and sent to Morro or Cabana, 
where they were shut up incomunicado — that is, without communica- 
tion with friends or counsel — and by like arbitrary decree they were held 
in the dungeons or sent to Africa or sentenced to death here. Their 
fate, in any event, might be unknown to their families and friends. 
Scores were killed in the Laurel Ditch. The victim, kneeling, with face 
to the wall, was shot by a file of Spanish soldiers, who came out from 

72 



CABANA. 



73 




THE ENTRANCE OF CABANA. 



the interior of Cabana for the purpose. The line marked by the bullets 
in the wall is traceable for 85 feet; it was called by the significant name 
of "the deadline." A bronze memorial, provided by popular subscrip- 
tion, has been set in the wall to commemorate the martyrdom of those 
who died here in the cause of Cuba Libre. The design represents an 
angelic messenger receiving the soul of the dying patriot. 

Within the fortification we find ourselves in a vast labyrinth of wind- 
ings and turnings, ascents and descents, through narrow, high-walled 
passages and vaulted halls, covered ways, courts, barracks, prisons, 
officers' quarters and chapel; tree-lined roads and drill grounds; ram- 
part, parapet and terreplein, one beyond another and the whole seem- 
ingly interminable. We get an impression of vastness and dreariness, 



CABANA. 



75 




OLD SPANISH GUNS ON THE RAMPARTS. 



a sombreness relieved only by the bright color here and there of some 
flowering shrub; and our unpracticed eye is baffled when we endeavor to 
comprehend the plan of work; it is a rambling succession of fortifica- 
tion within fortification, the whole enormous in extent. There is here 
none of the symmetry and the completeness of design of Spanish Fort 
San Marco in St. Augustine, though in comparison with Cabana the 
Florida fort is a toy. 

Ascending to the ramparts, we gain a commanding view of harbor 
and town and sea and the palm-fringed encircling hills. The antiquated 
Spanish guns, elaborately ornamented and bearing each one the name of 
a sovereign, are quite in keeping with Cabana's age and uselessness. 
The marble shaft which rises from the next parapet commemorates the 
valor and loyalty of the soldiers of the garrison who repulsed the 
Lopez expedition at Las Pazas in 1851. Across the harbor, on a hiii 
south of the city, is seen Atares Castle, where Crittenden met his fate. 

Xarciso Lopez, a native of Venezuela, who had been a general in the Spanish 
army, fomented an unsuccessful insurrection of Cubans, and in 1849 emigrated to the 
United States, where he allied himself with the Cuban conspirators in New York. 
In 1850 he led an expedition of 600 men against Cuba; he landed at Cardenas and 




THE MEMORIAL OF THE LAUREL DITCH. 



took possession of the town; but the people did not rise to support him, and he re- 
tired. In the following year he organized another force consisting of 450 men, many 
of whom had been enlisted from the Southern United States. Col. W. L. Crittenden, 
of Kentucky, a graduate of West Point, was second in command. The expedition 
landed at Las Pazas, near Bahia Honda, thirty miles west of Havana. A large force 
of Spanish soldiers was sent from the Havana garrisons to repulse them. In the 
engagement which followed, many of the invaders were killed, Lopez was put to 
flight, and Crittenden and fifty of his men were taken prisoners, brought to Havana 
and shot at Atares Castle. Lopez was subsequently captured and garroted in Havana. 

The magnitude of Cabana piques one's curiosity to know something 
of its past; but there are no stirring chronicles; the story may be told 
in a few words. When Spain regained possession of Havana in 1763, 
she at once set about strengthening the harbor defenses, and began the 
construction of this fortification on Cabanas Hill, so called from the 
cabanas or cabins which were here in the early days; the name appears 
on the British plan of 1762, page 58. The work of building consumed 
eleven years, from 1763 to 1774, and the cost was $14,000,000. The story 
is related of Cabana, as it is of Spanish San Marco, in Florida, that 
when the King was told of the sum expended in its building, he gazed 
intently toward the west, declaring that the walls must be high enough 
to be visible across the sea. It might be not altogether fanciful to 
charge up to Cabana, in addition, the entire cost of the yellow fever 
scourge of Cuba, and through Cuba of North America and Europe 
during the century and a half that followed; for the disease was intro- 
duced into Cuba by convict laborers who were imported from Vera 
Cruz to work on the Cabana defenses. As events proved, the entire 



CABANA. 



17 



Cabana enterprise was futile, and the prodigious outlay was a waste of 
public funds; for Cabana has never fired a shot in defense of Havana, 
nor has it served any other purpose than that of barracks for Spanish 
troops and a prison house and execution ground for political offenders. 
The history of Havana is filled with references to the prisoners of 
Cabana, from the 800 Frenchmen who were shut up here in 1795 to the 
days of Weyler and the martyrs of the Laurel Ditch. As a fortification 
Cabana is worthless. Among recent projects for its utilization was '2 
plan to convert it into a state prison for the convicts now confined 
in the Presidio. At present it is occupied by the Cuerpo de Artilleria. 




THE MOAT OF PRINCIt'E. 



COLON CEMETERY. 



The Cristobal Colon Cemetery, one of the notable public institutions 
of Havana, is situated upon an eminence west of the city, commanding 
an outlook over the sea. It is reached by a drive through the Paseo de 
Tacon and past Principe Hill (hack fare $1.50, round trip $2.50), or by 
the Universidad-Aduana line of street cars (fare 5 cents), which run to 
the entrance, and make the trip in twenty minutes from the Prado. The 
grounds are open through the day. 

At the entrance is a monumental arch of granite pierced by three open- 
ings. Above the central arch is a sculptured panel by Saavedra repre- 
senting the scene of the Crucifixion; and surmounting the whole is a 
group of heroic figures, representing Columbus bringing the light of 
religion to the New World. The cemetery has many hand- 
some ^monuments; richly chiseled marbles and tombs decorated 
with porcelain flowers line the avenues. Just within the entrance, 
on the left of the central avenue. 




is the tomb of Major-General 
Calixto Garcia Yneguez, the 
Cuban leader who died in Wash- 
ington in 1899. The memorial 
was provided by the Club 
Calixto Garcia, by public sub- 
scription; it is decorated with 
great masses of floral wreaths 
and banks of flowers in porce- 
lain, and bears the sentiment 
Morir por la patria es vivir — "To 
die for country is to live." 

A short distance within the 
cemetery, on the left as we enter, 
is the Students' Monument, 
erected by popular subscription 
in memory of the students of 
the University of Havana, who 
in the year 1871 were sacrificed 
to the vindictiveness of the 
Spanish Volunteers, and of 
whom the story has been told 
on another page. The monu- 
ment consists of an elaborately 
carved pedestal, supporting a shaft 



students' monument. which is draped with mantle and 

78 



COLON CEMETERY. 



79 



wreath. At the base of the shaft are two noble figures symbolical of 
Justice and History. The scales of Justice are tipped and her sword is 
broken. Upon History's scroll is inscribed Verdad — "Truth." Emerging 
from the open door, and bearing a tablet inscribed I minimis — "Guiltless" — 
is the winged figure of Innocence. The monument is by Saavedra. 

Beyond, at the right of the avenue, is the famous Firemen's Monument, 
erected by the citizens of 
Havana in commemoration 
of the bravery of thirty 

members of the volunteer ttJK 
fire department, who per- 
ished in a fire which oc- 
curred in a warehouse in 
Mercaderes street on May 
17, 1890. The fatality was 
due to an explosion of 
gunpowder which had been 
stored in the building in 
violation of law, and the 
presence of which was un- 
suspected by the men who 
rushed into the building 
to their doom. The shaft 
of white marble rising 75 
feet against the blue sky 
is surmounted by a cross, 
resting against which is an 
angel with outstretched 
wings supporting a fire- 
man's lifeless form. At 
the four corners of the 
pedestal are figures sym- 
bolizing Devotion, Afflic- 
tion, Martyrdom and 
Heroism. Devotion is 
typified as a Sister of 
Charity, the symbol is the 
pelican, which according to 
the old myth nourished 
its young with its own 
blood. Other symbols are 
vine and wreath, sword and 
reversed torch. Portraits 
are carved in high relief 





MONUMENT OF THE FIREMEN. 



8o 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



of the thirty heroes to whom the memorial is dedicated ; and the sentiments 
are inscribed : Llora su noble sacriiicio — "We mourn their noble sacrifice," 
and Bendice su abnegation heroica — "We bless their heroic abnegation." 
The shaft records the date of the tragedy, "Habana 17 de Mayo, 1890." 
The sculptor was Augustin Querol, the architect Julio M. Zapatra. The 
monument is of Carrara marble; its cost was $79,000. 

Nearby is the tomb of General Maximo Gomez, chief in command of the 
Cuban army, and after the war held in affectionate regard as Cuba's "grand 
old man." Born at Boni, Santo Domingo, 1836; died at Santiago, 1905. 
The monument was voted by the Congress. 

Beyond the Firemen's Monument is the chapel in which masses are 
celebrated for the repose of the soul of the dead. To the right of this 
is the plot where in 1898 the victims of the Maine were buried, pending 
their removal to their final resting place in the Arlington Cemetery at 
Washington. 

The initials "E. P. D." seen on many tombs signify En pas descana — 
"He rests in peace." The letters "E. G. E." stand for En gratia esta — 
— "He is in grace." 

The prevailing mode of burial is in a stone-cased grave covered with 
a marble slab, or in vaults above the ground. In addition to the per- 
manent graves, there are others which are merely rented for a term of 
years. Such a temporary grave for one person for five years costs $10; 
a grave for three persons for the same period costs $3 for each. At the 
expiration of the term the bones are removed and thrown into the 
Osario or bone pit. This is a walled receptacle seventy-five feet square 
and fifty feet deep, at the southwest corner of the cemetery. Into it are 
thrown indiscriminately in one common heap skeletons, fragments of 
coffins and discarded tombstones. 

In Havana the hearse is a gorgeous affair, highly colored and gilded, 
and perhaps bearing a motto, "Look for me to-morrow, you will not 
find me." The horses are in trappings of orange or purple and 
black; the driver wears a court dress of purple or scarlet, with three- 
cornered hat, claw-hammer coat, knee breeches and silver shoe-buckles; 
and there are liveried footmen in number corresponding with the grade 
of the funeral. Arriving at the cemetery, the coffin is deposited before 
the sacristy, which is on the left of the gate, for the brief burial 
service, and thence is carried on the shoulders of four bearers to the 
grave. In funerals of the poorer class the dead are borne on the 
shoulders of bearers from the house to the cemetery. The coffin is 
sometimes rented for the occasion only, the body being deposited in 
the common trench and the coffin returned to the undertaker. As a 
rule, funerals in Havana lack the solemnity and order which are char- 
acteristic of such occasions in the United States. Women do not attend 
funerals from the house to the cemetery. 



COLON CEMETERY. 



81 



Back of the San Lazaro leper hospital, is the old Espada Cemetery estab- 
lished by Bishop Juan de Espada in 1804, prior to which date the Havana 
custom had been to bury the dead in the vaults of the churches. The 
cemetery was designed after the plan of the ancient Roman columbaria, so 
called from its resemblance to a dove-cote. It consists of tiers of masonry 
niches for the reception of the bodies. There are about 12,000 of these 
compartments, but this figure by no means represents the number of inter- 
ments here, since it was the custom to rent the tombs for a term of years, 
and at the expiration of the time the bones were removed and thrown into 
the Osario or bone-pit, which is at the southern end of the walled 
enclosure. Hundreds of thousands of bodies were interred here — for 
longer or shorter terms — between the establishment of the cemetery and 
the time of its disuse in the late '70s. Our illustration shows some of the 
niches sealed, others empty. It is recorded that these empty wall niches 
in the Espada Cemetery furnished a night's lodging to many a homeless 
vagrant in the days of reconcentration under Weyler. The tomb of 
Castafion, which the University students were accused of desecrating, was 
one of these niches in the dove-cote tiers in the Espada Cemetery. 

When the Colon Cemetery was completed in 1878 many of the dead 
were removed from Espada to the new cemetery. Of those who rested in 
tombs held in perpetuity the tombs were transferred to Colon; and those, 
too, who lay in rented graves were given their full term in the new ground. 




THE ESPADA CEMETERY — BEFORE DEMOLITION. 



IN AND ABOUT THE CITY. 



The cafes are everywhere in Havana. The typical cafe is all open to 
the street and has tiled floor, marble wainscoting, marble-top tables, and 
marble bar, on which are displayed pineapples, guanabanas, green cocoa- 
nuts, and other fruits from which mild and cooling drinks are made. To 
sit at a table and quaff harmless elixirs seems to constitute the larger part 
of the daily life of a people who< are not too hurried; and the visitor is 
quite likely to find himself taking most kindly to this particular custom, 
and experimenting with such inviting beverages as he may be able to 
make the waiter comprehend his desire for. Among the popular drinks 
is one called panal (honeycomb) or azucarillo, which is made from a mix- 
ture of sugar and white of egg, dried in rolls about six inches long, which 
look like spongy white candy; the rolls are served with a glass of water 
and with or without a lemon; when the panal is dissolved it produces a 
sweetish drink like the eau sucre of the French. There are many refrescos, 
or refreshments, made from the native fruits. Pina fria is fresh pineapple, 
crushed and served in a glass with sugar and ice. Limonada or lemonade 
is commonly flavored with cinnamon. Naranjada is orangeade. Tamarindo 
is tamarind paste dissolved in water, or the fruit crushed in water. 
Orchata is milk of almonds, the French orgeat. This is the recipe\ for 
home use: Blanch three dozen sweet almonds, crush thoroughly and boil 




DISPROPORTION. 



82 



/AT AND ABOUT THE CITY. 



23 




THE FRUIT SELLER. 

with two quarts of water, adding vanilla for flavoring. Sweeten to taste, 
and when cool strain through a fine sieve. Chill before serving. Gara- 
pina is made from the skins and cores of pineapples, which are washed 
and placed in a stone jar with water to cover them; the jar is covered 
with a netting and allowed to stand outdoors to ferment for four or 
five days ; the liquid is then drawn off and sugar and water are added. 
The milk of the cocoanut is a common and popular beverage, being simply 
poured out from the green nut; even when the nut is plucked from the 
trees on a warm day the milk is found to be cool and refreshing. Other 
fruits used for drinks are the guanabana or sour-sop, and the anona or 
sweet-sop ; these are the green prickly-skinned fruits with white flesh and 
black seeds, which are seen displayed on the cafe bars. The drink called 
ensalada (salad) is a beverage composed of various ingredients, the choice 
of which is determined by the fancy and skill of the composer. It is not 
unusual in a Havana cafe to see a person order simply a glass of ice- 
water and sit down at a table to drink it; a Cuban law requires ice-water 
to be provided free in every cafe. It is quite proper for ladies to go into 
the cafes of the better class; in those adjoining Central Park, after the 
park concerts or during the theatre intermissions, one finds there a gay 



84 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




A KIOSK WHERE COOLING DRINKS ARE DISPENSED. 



throng of handsomely dressed men and women. There are in the cafes a 
large and varied assortment of sweet cakes and a variety of ices, made 
from the guanabana, melon, orange, pineapple, and other fruits. One 
ice cream is named jai alai, after the famous game. Ices are usually served 
with barquillos or long rolled wafers. Sweets and cakes are displayed in 
great profusion in front of little shops everywhere throughout the city, 
and sweets sellers go about the streets bearing trays of confections on 
their heads. 

Coffee is served in all cafes. Cubans burn the coffee bean to a cinder; 
they say that this process destroys the toxic qualities. Milk is boiled 
M\ salted to keep it fresh. The waiter brings the coffee-pot in one hand 
and a pot of boiling milk in the other; the combination of charred coffee 
and salted milk some persons like at first taste; some learn to like it; 
some experiment with varying proportions of coffee and milk and never 
quite determine whether they do or do not like it. 

Wine is drunk with meals as commonly in Cuba as on the Continent. 
It is mostly of Spanish vintage, for over 90 per cent, of that imported 
comes from Spain. Although the island is admirably adapted to the 



IN AND ABOUT THE CITY. 



85 




VEGETABLES. 

nel, and thence flows by gravity in an 
the Palatino Reservoir in the suburbs 
distributed through the city, and 
to Regla, Casa Blanca and 
Cabana across the bay. The daily 
supply is 40,000,000 gallons of 
pure water, which is free from all 
organic matter, but is somewhat 
hard because of the limestone in 
solution. The aqueduct, con- 
structed at a cost of $5,030,000, is 
named after Albear, the distin- 
guished Cuban engineer, who 
planned and built it, and to whose 
memory there is a monument in 
Monserrate Plaza. (Page 52.) 
Before the construction of the 
Albear Aqueduct, the water was 
brought through an open ditch, 
which succeeded another open 
ditch, or Zanja, which was built 
in 1592, so that for 300 years 
Havana has received its abundant 



culture of grapes, under Spanish 
rule grape growing was prohibited 
because it would interfere with 
the home industry, just as in the 
seventeenth century tobacco grow- 
ing was not permitted in Ireland 
because it would conflict with the 
tobacco interests of the infant 
colony of Virginia. Drunkenness 
is rarely observable in Havana. 

Havana draws its water supply 
from the springs of the Almen- 
dares River at Vento, nine miles 
south of the city. There is here a 
group of 400 springs which are 
inclosed by a heavy wall of 
masonry, 60 feet high and 250 feet 
wide at the top. The water is car- 
ried under the river in an in- 
verted siphon consisting of two 
heavy iron pipes in a masonry tun- 
underground aqueduct six miles to 
of Cerro, and from the reservoir is 




LECHERO — MILKMAN. 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 





THE SHOE SELLER. 



water supply from the Almen- 
dares River. As an illustration 
of the tremendous rainfall which 
occurs at certain seasons of the 
year, it may be noted that the 
Almendares at Vento has been 
known to rise 24 feet above the 
normal level. 

In Havana it is the custom to 
buy household supplies for the 
day only; and in addition to the 
market trade there is a large 
traffic in vegetables and fruits, 
carried on by hucksters and 
street venders. In the early morn- 
ing the roads leading to the city 
are filled with countrymen (mon- 
teros) bringing in the products of 
the farms, laden on horses" and 
donkeys in large panniers. Not 
infrequently the animals are in 
trains, the leading horse being 
ridden, the second one tied to the 
tail of the first, the third to the 
tail of the second, and so on for 
ten or a dozen, with a dog at- 
tached to the tail of the last horse 
for a rear guard. The panniers 
pineapples, melons, sweet potatoes, 
A characteristic sight in Havana 



are filled with plantains, oranges, 
sugar cane, and other commodities, 
streets is a mass of green advancing without any visible means of pro- 
gression, until closer view reveals that it is a stack of green corn fodder 
covering and enveloping and concealing the animal bearing it. This 
fodder, which is the staple food of horses, consists of the corn stalks, 
leaves and tassels; it is grown the year round and is brought into town 
in fresh supplies daily. Milk cans are carried in panniers on the backs of 
horses; the old custom of driving cows through the streets and milking 
them at the door has been discontinued. The poultry dealer brings in his live 
chickens and turkeys slung head down from the shoulder; and live pigs 
are carried in the same manner. The rule is to buy chickens alive, for 
they are cooked immediately after killing, which is the reason that the 
flesh of fowls is tough when brought to the table. 

The open grille windows are of course favorable to the street venders 
of all classes, and their musical cries are heard everywhere. Our illus- 



IN AND ABOUT THE CITY. 



87 




\ 





trations are characteristic — the 
shoe-seller crying his zapatas 
and zapatillas strung on a rod 
suspended from the shoulder, and 
the seller of laces carrying his as- 
sortment displayed in alluring 
array on a staff. Then there is the 
baratillero, whose stcck of little 
notions — pins and needles and 
other housewife supplies — is con- 
tained in wooden boxes with glass 
ends, carried on the back of horse 
or donkey. 

The Tacon Market, Mercado de 
Tacon, or Plaza de Vapor, is the 
largest in the city, and contains 
the most varied display of Cuban 
products. In the stalls are seen 
red and yellow bananas, plantains, 
oranges, grape fruit, limes, shad- 
docks, citrons, sapotas, sapadillcs, 
anonas, mameys, mangos, agua- 
cates, guanabanas, pineapples, co- 
coanuts, yams and cassava, and 
other tropical productions, with a 
score of vegetables familiar in 
northern markets ; and native 

fruit preserves, jellies and marmalades in enticing display. Suspended 
above are palm-leaf baskets and curiously shaped gourds, commonplace 
enough here, but certain to be prized if taken home as souvenirs. The 
fish, many of them superb in coloring, are kept alive in tanks, from which 
the purchaser makes his selection. For a long period the catching of fish 
for market in Havana waters was a monopoly granted to one Marti by 
Governor Tacon. Marti, a smuggler who had long baffled the authorities, 
at last voluntarily surrendered himself to Tacon and betrayed his con- 
federates in return for the reward of the fishing monopoly for twenty 
years. 

In Havana, as elsewhere, one may get a graphic and comprehensive sur- 
vey of the fruits and vegetables of the country by an early morning visit 
to the market. The three principal markets are Tacon, Colon, and 
Cristina. Tacon is on the Calzada de La Reina, just off from Colon 
Park. Colon is between Zulueta, Animas and Monserrate streets. Cristina, 
between Mercaderes and Teniente Rev, on the Plaza Vieja, is the oldest^ 
market in the city; it occupies the site of the old palace of the Holy Office 



LACES. 



88 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




COMMERCE. 



and its prisons, where in the seventeenth century were held autos da fe 
or burnings of heretics. 

The Municipal Police was organized in 1898 by John McCullagh, ex- 
chief of police of New York city. The personnel was carefully selected 
from the beginning, many of those enrolled in the force having served in 
the Cuban Army, and the Havana organization enjoys a creditable prestige. 
In physique, the Havana policeman presents a marked contrast with his 
brother of the New York Broadway Squad. He is decidedly slight of 
figure, and the close-fitting blue linen uniform accentuates this characteristic. 

Havana is by no means a quiet town at night, and we may be thank- 
ful that the reign of the Serenos has passed. These were night watchmen 
provided with dark lantern, pistol, pike, whistle and rope, who through 
the night patrolled the streets, calling out the hours, and every thirty 
minutes announcing the state of the weather; as the Havana night is 
usually serene, their iteration of the cry "Sereno" gave them the popular 
name. 

The constabulary of the Island consists of the Rural Guard (Guardia 
Rural), which was organized in 1899 chiefly from the ranks of the Cuban 
Army. In 1904 the Guard numbered 3,020; in April of that year Presi- 



IN AND ABOUT THE CITY. 89 




TACOX MARKET. 



dent Palma recommended an increase of a thousand men. An allied 
service is the Artillery Corps (Cuerpo de Artilleria) of 694 men. The 
guards are distributed throughout the Island, being stationed at about 
250 posts; their duties are to patrol the country, visiting the plantations 
and sugar mills, and preserving order in the villages. Two guards are 
assigned to every railroad train, and at every station they go through the 
cars. The uniform is of brown khaki, hats similar to the United States 
campaign hat, cartridge belt, russet leather shoes and leggings, and the 



90 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




insignia on collar of blouse and on hat. They are armed with Remington 
carbines, caliber 7.7 mm. Saddle, bridle and trappings are of russet leather; 
they own their own horses. The guards are neat in dress and manly in 
. bearing, and one gets the impression that the country is well policed. 

Among the curiosities of the archives in La Fuerza are some old lottery 
tickets which are reminders of the day when the Royal Lottery of the Ever 

Faithful Island of Cuba was an estab- 
lished institution. The illustration 
shows in reduced size a ticket of the 
year 1843. There were monthly draw- 
ings with a regular prize list of 
$120,000, which once a year was in- 
creased to $180,000. The lottery was a 
State institution, and yielded to the 
Spanish Crown a revenue of $2,000,000 
a year. This is a picture of a Havana 
Sunday in the days of the lottery : 
"Lottery tickets are vended at every corner. The seller rends the air with 
his cries of temptation to the passing throng, each of whom he earnestly 
assures is certain to realize enormous pecuniary returns by the smallest 
investment in tickets or portions of tickets, which he holds in sheets, while 
he brandishes a huge pair of scissors ready to cut them in any desired 
proportion." The lottery was freely patronized by the first mercantile 
houses, which had their names registered for a certain number of tickets 




4 S, 
REAL I0TEHI 

Ja 0o»vo <te billeteparael sorleo trescientos setentay. cin- § 
|H co, que se ha de celebrar el dia 3 de octubip da 1843. | 



Vale cuatio reales. | 



A ROYAL LOTTERY TICKET. 




STREET MERCHANTS. 



IN AND ABOUT THE CITY. 



9? 




TRA N S PORTATION. 



every month. The whole population was infatuated; the poorer classes 
clubbed together to buy tickets ; and even the slaves were purchasers ; it 
is recorded that a band of slaves once drew the first prize of $60,000 and 
bought their freedom. Another story is told of a man who drew a $10,000 
prize and bought a coffee estate, got into a lawsuit over the boundaries, 
gained his suit, but had to pay all the expenses v which took the entire 
$to,ooo and was then ready to begin over again. The lottery has been 
revived under the second Republic as a government enterprise for the 
raising of public revenue. 

Streets and Paseos.— We shall find the most to interest us in the 
quaint streets of the old part of the city, the districts which were intra- 
muros— within the walls. In some of the streets, which are so nar- 
row that it would be impossible for one team to pass another, vehicles 
are permitted to go in one way only, the direction being indicated by 
the corner signs Subida, up, and Baja, down, with reference to the bay. 
On the sidewalk it is often impracticable for two persons to pass; one 
of them must go into the street, and the expression to "take the wall" 
of a person is given a significance not before understood. As the 
patios of the houses are paved, there is little absorption of the rainfall 
in the ground, and it must run off through the streets; a depth of two 
feet of water with a very rapid current is sometimes found in some of 



02 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



the business streets; it is indeed a matter of record that under such 
conditions fallen horses have been drowned in the street floods before 
they could be extricated. 

Obispo and O'Reilly have been noted as attractive for their shops; 
there are many others which are well worth exploring and will be 
sure to reward one who has an eye for the picturesque. 

Havana now holds place among the cleanest towns in America. The 
streets are swept, some of them several times a day, by a force of sweepers, 
in whose garb and utensils and methods of operation one sees a grateful 
tribute to the work of the late Col. Geo. E. Waring, Jr., who organized the 
street cleaners of New York into an efficient body of men, and taught both 
sweepers and public the dignity of well performed labor as inherent even 
in the lowliest service. When, after the surrender by Spain in 1898, the 
Americans were confronted with the tremendous task of cleaning up 
Havana, which had been left by the Spaniards in an appallingly filthy con- 
dition, and of keeping it clean and giving it a place among the healthy 
and wholesome cities of the earth, they turned to Colonel Waring as the 
one best fitted to find a solution of the hard problem; and in October of 
that year he came to Havana under a commission to investigate the sani- 
tary conditions and formulate a plan for their betterment. He contracted 
yellow fever and died a martyr to the cause of a regenerated Cuba. The 
authorities adopted the Waring system of street cleaning; the Havana 
"White Wings" and their efficient service afford a striking demonstration 
of how far-reaching and beneficent may be the work of one man. 

The streets of the more modern parts of the town, those which were 
extramuros — outside the walls — beginning with the Prado, are laid 
out on a liberal scale. The Paseos of Carlos III. and Tacon are 
wide, macadamized drives, having on each side a broad promenade 
shaded by double rows of trees, and lined with many fine residences. 
The Paseo de Carlos III. has a marble statue of the King, by Canova, 
and a monument of the Five Goddesses. Tacon built the Paseo bear- 
ing his name in 1835-8, to connect the palace of the Captain-General, 
Quinta de los Molinos, with the city. The palace is now the Presi- 
dent's summer home. Surrounding it are extensive gardens, and ad 
joining is the Botanical Garden of the University of Havana; beyond 
is the old Zanja, or open ditch, with a stream flowing from the Al- 
mendares River, which at one time constituted the city's water supply. 

The Botanical Garden contains numerous specimens of tropical 
trees, fruits, plants and flowers; there are avenues of royal palms, 
artificial grottos and miniature cascades. The massive iron fence 
formerly enclosed the Campo de Marte. Cuba's native flora comprises 
over 3,350 native plants, besides those which have been introduced. 

Theatres. — Havana is devoted to drama and opera, and many of the 
world's most famous artists have been seen on its stage. The National 



IN AND ABOUT THE CITY. 



93 




COCOANUT PALMS IN COLON PARK. 



Theatre, Teatro Nacional, formerly called the Tacon, facing Central Park, 
seats an audience of 3,000, being the third largest theatre in the world. 
It is in the Italian style, with five horse-shoe tiers of boxes, rising one 
above the other around the pit, and separated by gilded lattice work of 
light and graceful design; and the large stage permits putting on operas 
properly mounted. French and Italian operas are the favorites. To 
rehearse the names of those who have sung in the Tacon would be to 
call the roll of the great singers — Grisi, Mario, Alboni, Tedesco, Patti, 
Nilsson, Nevada and Guerrabella; while among actors have been 
Ristori, Salvini, Coquelin, Duse and Bernhardt. A Tacon audience is 
most lavish in its expression of approval, a favorite mode being the 
presentation of money and jewels cunningly concealed in flowers, or 
borne by a snow-white dove trained to fly directly to the stage, carry- 
ing the gifts attached to it with white satin ribbons. The Tacon was 
built in 1837 at a cost of $500,000 by Marti, who had secured from Gov- 
ernor Tacon a contract that for twenty years no competing theatre 
should be permitted. 

Other theatres are the Payret on the Prado, near Central Park; the 



94 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



Albisu in the Centro Asturiano club house, east of Central Park, de- 
voted to Spanish plays ; and the Marti at Dragones and Zulueta streets, 
surrounded by a garden and having vast expanses of Venetian blinds to 
insure coolness in summer. Theatre tickets are sold in booths on the 
sidewalk in front of the theatres, and at some theatres tickets are pur- 
chased for single acts only; if one wishes to remain after one act, an- 
other ticket must be secured. 

Havana is the capital of the Republic. The Congress consists of the 
Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate Building is on 
O'Reilly street, facing the Plaza de Armas. Each one of the six 
Provinces of Pinar del Rio, Havana, Matanzas, Santa Clara, Puerto 
Principe and Santiago de Cuba, sends foui Senators, who are elected 
for terms of eight years. A Senator must be a native born Cuban, and 
must have attained the age of thirty-five. The House meets in the Hall 
of Representatives on Oficio street, near the Machina. There is one 
Representative for each 25,000 individuals and for an additional fraction 
over 12,500. The term is four years. A Representative must be a native 
born Cuban or a naturalized Cuban, who has resided in Cuba at least 
eight years from his naturalization, and must have attained the age of 
twenty-five. The President of the Republic, elected for a term of four 
years, must be a native born Cuban, or one who has served in the Cuban 
Army in its Wars of Independence for at least ten years, and must have 
attained the age of forty. 

The National Library (Biblioteca Nacional) was established by the 
Military Government in 1902, in La Fuerza, but was afterward installed 
in the rooms which it now occupies in the building called La Maestranza 
in Calle Chacon. It is open to the public every day in the week, Sundays 
included, from eight in the morning till five in the evening. The Library 
was founded with 3,000 documents of all classes, collected and brought 
over from Paris and London, by its founder and director, Senor Domingo 
Figarola-Caneda. The number of books approximates 19,000; the collec- 
tion is chiefly of works relating to the history of Cuba; in which respect 
it is second only to the British Museum. Among the collections is the 
library of the Conde de Fernandina, embracing many fine examples of 
early printing, some of the volumes bearing dates 1496, 1582 and 1635 ; 
the books are richly bound by famous Paris binders, and comprise 4.000 
volumes which cost $20,000. Another library acquired was that of Vidal 
Morales y Morales, representing twenty-five years' collecting of works 
relating to Cuba and Spanish-American history. It contains a Las Casas, 
printed at Seville in 1552; Benzoni's "History of the New World,'' printed 
in 1565 ; the dramas of Heredia, the poems of Placido, and other treasures 
of Cuban literature; in all, 3,000 volumes. 
The Library of the Sociedad Economica at No. 62 Dragones street 



IN AND ABOUT THE CITY. 



95 



contains a large collection of books, newspapers and prints, It is open 
to the public. Another library is that of the Convent of San Agustin. 

Firemen. — The Cuartel de Bomberos, or fire station, on Zulueta street, 
north of the Plaza Hotel, is equipped with modern fire-fighting apparatus, 
and the system does not differ in any essential particular from those of 
the United States. 

The .Arsenal (El Arsenal) or Navy Yard was on the harbor front, five 
squares south of Colon Park. The Navy Yard was established in 1724 for 
the building of war ships to act as convoys for the galleons and fleets from 
Mexico to Spain. The hard woods of the island were considered of 
special value for war ships, since the timber would not split when struck 
by shot. For three-quarters of a century Havana was "the great nursery 
of the Spanish Armada'' ; and more than 100 ships were built here ; but 
in 1796 the industry was discontinued by royal decree, because shipbuilding 
in Cuba deprived the workmen of the mother country of the labor. The 
site of the yard is now occupied by the United Railway station. 

El Principe or Castillo del Principe (Fort of the Prince) is on the 
crest of a high hill overlooking the city on the west. It is an irregular 
bastion work surrounded by a deep moat, and commands the city and 
harbor and coast and inland approaches. The fine view obtained from 
Principe well repays for the climb from the foot of the hill at the 
terminus of the El Principe line of cars. 

Santa Clara and Reina Batteries. — Under the old order Havana was 
surrounded with defenses, the forts being supplemented with batteries in 
every commanding position. One of the most important of these was the 
Bateria de Santa Clara, completed in 1797, and named after the Count 
de Ricla, otherwise known as the Count of Santa Clara. It is the most 
westerly of the city's defenses, being placed in the hill near the shore, 
one and one-half miles from the harbor mouth, and commanding the sea 
approach. It is reached by the Yedado cars. Xot far from it is the old 
Martello watch tower (Torreon de Vigia) at the San Lazaro inlet, where 
the Cuba-Key West cable lands. Xear the inlet, between the car line and 
the water, formerly stood the battery called La Reina. a stone work which 
commanded seaward and was intended to resist the advance of an enemy 
from Chorrera It was demolished in 1904. 

Atares Castle occupies a round hill at the head of the harbor. 111 feet 
above sea level. The isolated site, commanding position and picturesque 
outline, make it one of the most conspicuous objects in the vicinity of 
Havana; it is seen from the town, the ships in the harbor, and the ram- 
parts of Cabana. The fortress is a small bastioned stone work, built 
in 1763-67, after the restoration of Cuba by the British. For some act 
of the garrison a century ago it enjoyed the distinction of being the only 
fortress which was permitted to fly a silken flag. The Kentuckian Crit- 



p6 THE STANDARD GUIDE. 

tenden and fifty of his men of the Lopez expedition of 1851 were im- 
prisoned in Atares, and it was on the slope of the hill overlooking the 
harbor that they were executed. The castle has been converted into a 
jail. On the slopes in great letters formed of cannon balls and flower- 
beds are seen the names of Marti and other heroes of the Cuban struggle 
for independence. 

City Wall. — Not far from La Punta, at Monserrate and Refugio 
streets, are remnants of the old city wall. Another fragment has been 
preserved on Monserrate street, near Teniente Rey. These ancient 
landmarks indicate the boundary of old Havana. The wall extended 
from the shore of the harbor east of the Arsenal, along a line east of 
the Prado, to the water front again at a point in line w r ith the Carcel. 

The Punta, Carcel, 
Prado, Tacon The- 
atre and Campo de 
Marte were outside 
the wall, "extra- 
1x11^05." The wall 
was a high and 
massive structure, 
which consumed a 
century in building 
(from 1633 to 1740), 
at a cost of $700,- 
000. A moat ex- 
tended around the 
outer side, and be- 
yond this were earth 
works. Entrance 
was by drawbridges 
over the moat, and 
then through nar- 
row arched gateways, which were closely guarded by soldiers, and 
were shut at 11 o'clock at night, except when there was an operatic 
or dramatic performance at the Tacon, on which occasions the Puerta 
de Monserrate, which was opposite the theatre, was kept open until 
the play was over. Early morning saw outside the gates a daily con- 
course of thousands of horses and mules laden with panniers of market 
provisions, pressing and crowding. and jostling for place to get into the 
city when the gates should be opened. The plan here reproduced from 
the Gentleman's Magazine, London, August, 1762, shows the wall as it 
was then and as it remained until it was demolished in 1880. 

At Belascoain and San Lazaro is the Casa de Beneficencia y Materni- 
DAD, Charity and Maternity Asylum, for the aged poor and for destitute 




A WALLED CITY. 
Plan of Havana in 1762. A, Morro Castle. B, La Punta 
Castle. E, La Fuerza. G, La Punta Gate. N, Land Gate. 



IN AND ABOUT THE CITY. 



97 




PALM-LINED AVENUES EXTEND FOR MILES. 



children. It was founded in 1794 by Governor-General Luis de las Casas, 
whose administration was one of the bright spots in the history of Cuba. 
The asylum is managed by the Sisters of Charity, and is one of the most 
beneficent institutions of the city. As an illustration of how things were 
done in the old days, it may be recalled that at one time when the Benefi- 
cencia was in danger of falling into decay for want of funds, the Junta de 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



Tabacos, the concern which farmed the Spanish royal monopoly of cigar 
manufacture, purchased 100 slaves for the express purpose of devoting 
the profit of their labor as cigarmakers to the support of the institution. 

The San Lazaro Hospital for lepers, facing the Gulf on San Lazaro and 
Oquendo streets, is one of the two leper hospitals in Cuba, the other one, 
also bearing the name of San Lazaro, being in Santa Clara. There were 
in the year 1902 between 500 and 600 lepers in Cuba ; the disease is not 
of a contagious type, and those afflicted with it are decreasing in number. 
The Havana San Lazaro was founded away back in 1681, through the 
donation of a Mexican priest 

On Compostela street, between Fundicion and O'Farrel streets, is the 
Casa de Recogidas, the women's prison, which is associated with the 
Evangelina Cisneros incident of the Weyler regime. Miss Cisneros 
was the daughter of the Marquis de Santa Lucia, second president of the 
Cuban Republic. Her father had been in prison for many years. Learn- 
ing that his health was breaking down, Miss Cisneros vainly be- 
sought the governor of the prison to secure his release. She was 
repulsed, and afterwards, on a charge of carrying letters to the rebels, 
was arrested and thrown into this prison. She contrived to communi- 
cate her case to Mrs. Fitzhugh Lee, wife of the American Consul, who 
made known her story in the United States. Carl Decker, a reporter 
of the New York Journal, was commissioned by Mr. W. R. Hearst to 
undertake her rescue, and came to Havana for that purpose. Miss 
Cisneros drugged her keeper and companions with candy, and made her 
escape through an upper window and over the roofs to the street, where 
she was received by Mr. Decker, who smuggled her aboard an American 
ship and took her to New York. 

The Vivac on Zulueta street, near Colon market, contains the 
municipal prison and one of the correctional court rooms. 
*The population of Havana by the census of 1899 was 235,981. Males, 
I2 3>358; females, 112,723. The race divisions were: Native whites, 115,432; 
foreign whites, 52,901; negroes, 28,750; mixed, 36,004; Chinese, 2,794. The 
report of the United States Board of Health in 1879 showed that three- 
fourths of the people in Havana lived in the most densely populated 
localities in the world. The typical tenement house is a one-story oblong, 
with a court in the center and rooms opening upon it from two sides ; 
here families of five to ten people living in one or two small, dark rooms 
are not at all uncommon. The city is not only overcrowded in the houses, 
but there is an overcrowding of the houses themselves ; the city covers a 
smaller area than any other city of its population in Europe or America. 

John Chinaman is ubiquitous in Havana. The census of 1899 shows 
a Chinese population of 2,751, and here, as elsewhere, they are indus- 
trious members of the community. Chinamen are seen carrying bur- 
dens swung from balanced shoulder poles, after the manner of their native 



IN AND ABOUT THE CITY. 



99 




LUYANO NEAR HAVANA. 



country. On the outskirts of the city, and in the suburbs, are extensive 
Chinese truck farms; the market garden industry is largely in their 
hands. The Chinese quarter is in Zanja and Aguila streets. The Chinese 
theatre is on Zanja street. The Chinese in Cuba are reminders of the 
coolie trade which brought here hundreds of thousands to virtual slavery, 
They were imported under a contract to serve eight years at $4 a month, 
and the planters paid $400 for them. They were not altogether satis- 
factory as human chattels, being much given to suicide. 

Baseball is played on the grounds of the Almendares Club on the 
Paseo de Tacon, opposite the Botanical Garden. Principe cars pass the 
gate. The grounds of the Havana Baseball Club are at Vedado. The 
most important games are played on Sunday afternoons, and are an- 
nounced in the Havana Post. 

Bull fighting has been suppressed by law. 

Havana cigars of the best grades are made of tobacco raised in the 
Vuelta Abajo district, which comprises the Province of Pinar del Rio 
and the western portion of the Province of Havana. The cigar industry 
is prodigious; its statistics are expressed in millions. A visit to a large 
tobacco factory will give much to interest and instruct, and one may 
well devote an hour to this phase of Havana industry, as shown at the 
establishment of Messrs. H. Upmann & Co., Paseo de Tacon. 159-169. 
(Permits may be had at Mr. Foster's office.) Here may be followed the 
successive steps of manipulation by which the raw leaf is converted 



too 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



into the finished product — the unfolding of the baled leaf and its moist- 
ening, stripping from the stem and sorting according to lighter or darker 
shades, the actual making of the cigar, and the subsequent sorting, label- 
ing, packing and sealing, each several process performed by workers 
whose deftness and skill excite admiration. 




A CUBAN COUNTRY HOME. 



MATANZAS. 




Matanzas is on the north coast 
63 miles from Havana. The route 
is by the United Railways. A con- 
venient way to visit the place, if 
only one day may be allowed, is 
afforded by personally conducted 
excursions provided by the rail- 
road. See page 16. On the way 
to Matanzas, some of the most 
considerable sugar plantations on 
the island are passed, thus afford- 
ing during the zafra, cr harvest, 
which extends from December to 
May. the interesting sight of cane 
^JplQlp^' " Tip^^^'^^^^^J being cut and carted to the in- 

genios or mills. In some regions 
the whole country appears to be 
one immense canefield stretching 
away beyond the sight, looking not 
unlike the cornfields cf the West- 
ern States. The cut cane is con- 
veyed in carts drawn by bull teams, 
or on freight trams which are seen on the narrow-gauge plantation rail- 
roads. There are nearly 900 miles of these private sugar plantation 
railroads on the island. In the long trains carrying cane, the extensive 
ranges of the mill buildings, with their smoking chimneys, the sugar-laden 
atmosphere, and the general air of activity, some hint is given of the 
magnitude of the sugar industry. The Cuban sugar crop of 1914 was 
valued at over $10,000,000. 

The short railway journey is replete with scenery that is novel and 
fascinating to the tourists from the North. The peculiar richness of the 
native red soil — the most productive in the world — may be appreciated 
from the car window, and one ceases to doubt how it is possible to gather 
two and three crops of corn a year and a practically perpetual crop of 
cane without replanting, and without the use of an ounce of fertilizer. 
Countless thousands of royal palms are seen on either side — now in 
stately avenues, indicating existing or ancient boundaries or entrances to 
the country homes of rich planters and others ; again, scattered about pro- 
miscuously on hill-top and in hollow. It is everywhere a conspicuous and 
characteristic object of the landscape, presenting itself in new groupings 

101 



MONUMENT TO CUBAN PATRIOTS. 



102 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




ON THE WAY TO MATANZAS. 



and settings in an ever-changing picture of which it is the central feature. 
We shall see it in all its beauty in the Valley of the Yumuri. The ceiba, 
too, with massive trunk upholding its umbrella-like canopy, commands 
attention; it is a very giant among trees, and often assumes forms 
extremely grotesque. The trees are especially conspicuous, as they 
generally rise isolated out of the level plains. But the striking feature of 
all to the visitor accustomed to pass the fall and winter in higher latitudes 
is the ever-green foliage and grass-covered fields. Here and there are seen 
the shacks of the farmer, constructed of the fronds and bark of the royal 
palm. The hut still retains the Indian name of bohio; and it is built by 
the Cuban of to-day after the fashion of the huts of the natives of the 
time when Columbus landed on these shores. The children we see playing 
about the door are as innocent of clothing as were the Indians whom 
Columbus saw ; in this respect at least primitive Cuban fashions have not 
changed. And the Cuban farmer yokes his bulls to the crooked branch 
of a tree for a plow, just as the Egyptians did in the time of Moses. 

\ On the approach to Matanzas by sea, the first land discerned is the 
celebrated Pan of Matanzas, a peak southwest of the harbor, rising 1,277 
feet high in the shape of a truncated cone or loaf of bread (the Spanish 



M AT AN Z AS. 



103 




PLAZA DE LA LIBERTAD — HOTEL LOUVRE IN BACKGROUND. 



word pan meaning bread). The nearer marks at the mouth of the harbor 
are the Maya Point light on the east (a fixed white light visible thirteen 
miles), and Sabanillo Point on the west; further in on the same side 
is Gordo Point, and beyond that is the pilot station; opposite is the mouth 
of the Canimar River, with Morillo Castle; then on the eastern shore is 
seen San Severino Castle, and complementing- this across the bay is Penas 
Altas Fort. The usual anchorage is off the section of the city called 
Yersalles. The harbor is a bay five miles in length and one and one-half 
miles wide at the anchorage; while not landlocked, it is protected by a 
coral reef which lies in front of the entrance. 

Matanzas is built on a slope which rises with gradual ascent from the 
water's edge to a height of 100 feet. Still higher beyond the town rises 
the verdant hill called the Cumbre, with the Church of Montserrate near 
the summit. The city comprises three parts, the old town in the center 
lying between the Yumuri and San Juan rivers; Versalles on the north 
across the Yumuri ; and Pueblo Nuevo (new town) beyond the San Juan 
River on the south. 

The Plaza de la Libertad — called also the Central Park — is very pretty 
with its flowers, palms and a fountain. Facing the oark on the south is 



104 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




CHURCH OF SAN CARLOS. 



the State House, formerly the Governor's Palace ; and on other sides are 
the Casino Espanol (Spanish Club), with highly ornate facade, the Cuban 
Club and the Grand Hotel Louvre. . Evening concerts are given twice a 
week by the Firemen's Band. The' Plaza was the scene of public execu- 
tions; and it was here that the Cuban poet, Gabriel de la Concepcion 
Valdes ("Placido"), met his death. Just off the Plaza on the Calle de la 
Constitucion is the Parochial Church of San Carlos. 



M AT AN Z AS. 



105 




CALLE DE LA COXSTITUCION. 



The summit of the Cumbre (Hill) is reached by a carriage road, 
which leads to the hermitage of Montserrate and to the bluff overlooking 
the Yumuri Valley. The prospect over this immense basin, with the river 
winding through the parti-colored fields of cane and other vegetation 
and royal palms, singly and in clumps and clusters, dotting the whole ex- 
panse oi the levels and slopes and summits of the encircling hills, is the 
most beautiful in Cuba, and one of the most famous of the world. The 
Yumuri has times and moods ; one should see it in the early morning or at 
sunset, when the blending tints are soft and delicate. The Cumbre view 
to the east overlooks the town with its bright colored houses, the harbor 
and the broad expanse of the sea, with the shore-line seen stretching away 
in a series of crescents marked by the white surf breaking on the sand. 

The Hermitage of Montserrate was built in 1870 by Cuban residents 
who were natives of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands and their 
descendants. It contains a shrine fashioned from cork brought from Spain, 
representing the shrine in the Monastery of Montserrate, the sacred 
mountain of the Catalans, which rises from the plateau of Catalnna. The 
Spanish monastery was built in 880 to enshrine La Santa Imagen, a small 
wooden figure of the Virgin, which the legend says was made by St. 
Luke and was taken to Spain by St. Peter. It was before this image that 
Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order, hung up his weapons, 
renounced the world, and devoted himself to the service of Christ and the 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




Virgin. The Monastery is one of the most popular shrines of Christendom ; 
in some years, cn the occasion of the annual festival of September 8, 
60,000 pilgrims have resorted to it. The same day is observed in Cuba 
with pilgrimages to this Matanzas church. Here, as in Spain, many 
miracles have been ascribed to Our Lady of Montserrate; and in the 
church are numerous votive offerings given in fulfillment of vows. Among 
them are the elaborate shell work flower pieces which decorate the altar ; 
the diamond ear-drops, necklace and crucifix worn by the image of Our 
Lady; the crude paintings of a railroad wreck and model of hand and 
sling; crutches, a bride's orange blossoms, and numerous other articles, 
each with its story of distress, of appeal to the Virgin, and of gratitude 
for her intercession. 

The caves of Bellamar in a hill southeast of the city are reached by a 
drive through Pueblo Nuevo, and along the shore of the bay on the avenue 
called La Playa. The sandy beach is used for bathing, and is protected 
by iron gratings from the sharks. The Playa is lined with handsome 
villas which formerly were the homes of officers of the Spanish Army. 
The road climbs the hill over a country which is extremely rough, the 
surface of the ground being covered with masses of jagged coral rock 
called dientes de perro, or "dog's teeth." The formation is perforated 
with round holes traversing the rock in every direction, the whole looking 
like some thick paste that has suddenly petrified while in a state of 



io8 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



ebullition. The trip to the caves is usually made in volantas, the peculiar 
long-shafted, high-wheeled' vehicles once in universal use in Cuba. The 
body is swung low between the wheels, which are widely separated and 
are six or seven feet high, so that it is impossible for the vehicle to turn 
over, while the immense circumference of the wheels give ease of move- 
ment on the roughest of roads. The horse harnessed between the shafts 
is led by the cochero, who rides on another horse hitched with traces out- 
side the shafts; sometimes there is a third horse on the opposite side of 
the shaft horse. The hemp fields passed here are a German enterprise. 
The admission fee to the caves is one dollar. The caves are remarkable 
for the stalactite and stalagmite formations, which are exceedingly bril- 
liant in the electric light which illuminates the cavern throughout. The 
caves extend for some three miles, and contain more than thirty separate 
chambers or halls, the chief of which is the Gothic Temple, 250 feet long 
and 80 feet wide, with immense columns. The new part of the caves is 
practically a repetition of the old. The caverns were discovered in 1861. A 
Chinese workman, extracting limestone from the ground for a kiln nearby, 
lost his crowbar, which, slipping from his grasp, disappeared in the earth ; 
and investigation developed the existence of the caves. The name Bellamar 
came from that of a cluster of villas overlooking the harbor. In the caves 
the process of crystallization, which is continuous, is due to the filtration 
of water. As the water drips, it carries in solution minute particles of 
limestone, which harden as carbonate of lime and crystallize. As each drop 
pauses before falling, it deposits a particle, thus forming the stalactite 
which hangs down ; and another deposit taking place where the drop falls, 
forms the stalagmite which rises from below; the whole process resemb- 
ling the formation of icicles ; the two parts sometimes unite and form a con- 




MATANZAS VOLANTAS IN DAYS GONE BY. 



M AT AN Z AS. 



log 




ON THE SAN JUAN RIVER. 



tinuous column. There are cavernous formations under large areas of 
the island; caves larger or smaller are found in many other places. 
Similar phenomena are the natural bridges and the tunnels and subter- 
ranean river courses. Among them is the wonderful tunnel of the Cuzco 
River in the eastern part of the island. The stream has bored a way 
through a lofty ridge, disappears at the base of a hill,, and reappears on the 
other side cf the ridge, three miles away. Borings for artesian wells in 
various parts of the island are frequently interfered with by the drill 
penetrating caverns. 

From the old town cf Matanzas we cross the Yumuri by the Concordia 
Bridge, an iron structure with massive ornamental stone columns at each 
end, to Versalles, and drive out on the Paseo de Marti. There is a fine 
view from the bridge locking up the river to the gorge, beyond which 
lies the Yumuri Valley. To the left are the twin towers of the Church of 
St. Peter. The church is remarkable for its strength as a fortified place; 
it was surrounded by a wall 20 feet high and 10 feet thick, evidently built 
for purposes of defense. Versalles has many beautiful villas in classical 
style, with white marble columns, elaborate grilled windows, iron work 
balconies, handsome porticoes, and mosaic pavements. The Paseo Marti — 
formerly named the Paseo de Santa Cristina — is a broad parked boulevard 
overlooking the harbor and commanding a pleasant view of the bay and 



no 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




PASEO DE MARTI. 



M AT AN Z AS. 



in 




YUMURI RIVER AND GORGE. 



city and hills. At the east end is a statue of Ferdinand II., and at the 
west is the monument built in memory of sixty-three Cuban patriots who 
were executed during the wars for liberty. On an elevation to the left is 
the City Hospital. Beyond the Paseo a fine military road leads to Fort 
San Severino, a bastioned stcne fortification commanding the harbor 
entrance. The fort took no part in the late war. though the American 
bombardment of Versalles in April. 1898. with a total casualty list of one 
mule slain, was among the humors of the time. The summit of the ridge 
above San Severino may be visited for the beautiful view of bay and 
amphitheatre of hills, ocean, towns, rivers and valleys. 

Pueblo Xuevo, beyond the San Juan, is reached by the bridge called 
Puente Eelen. In the Calzada de San Esfevan, a handsome road lined 
with fine residences, we shall find a study of color effects, the pillared 
porticoes and walls tinted in bright hues of green, rose, pink, lavender, 
sky-blue, yellow and crushed strawberry. 

Excursions may be made to the Yumuri River through the gorge, beyond 
which lies the valley. One and a half miles from the city, in the face of 
'he cliff, is seen the mouth of a large cave, which tradition says was the 
secret meeting place of the patriots of 1820. The Canimar River is 
reached by the shore road, an excellent macademized highway. The 
river is a picturesque stream flowing now between the precipitous 



112 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



bluffs, decked with a profusion of vegetation, and now through 
level reaches filled with palms, bamboo and bananas,' and bright with the 
flaming blossoms of the majaguay. The San Juan, watering a fertile coun- 
try of sugar plantations and cattle ranges, is of the same picturesque 
character. On the lower reaches it bears an extensive commerce; one of 
our illustrations shows the characteristic sugar boats in which the cargoes 
are lightered to the vessels in the harbor; and another picture shows the 
Venetian character of the San Juan waterfront. 

In commercial importance Matanzas ranks sixth in imports and fifth 
in exports ; it is a large shipping point for sugar and honey. 

The lines of the town were laid out October 10, 1693, and the name was 
given of San Carlos Alcazar de Matanzas. The Spanish word "matanzas" 
means slaughter, and various explanations are given of the application 
of the name to the place. One is that ir the early days of the Spaniards 
in Cuba, a vessel bound from Santo Domingo to the Luccas (Bahamas) 
was shipwrecked near this harbor; there were thirty Spaniards and two 
Spanish ladies ; and the Indians in carrying them across the river treacher- 
ously upset their canoes and drowned all except three men and one woman 
who escaped to tell of the matanza. Another explanation is that the town 
took its name from the slaughter of the last unfortunate remnants of the 
aborigines, who had fled to the caves of the vicinity for refuge and con- 
cealment. A third and more prosaic theory is that the town was estab- 
lished on the site of a slaughter house owned by Havana butchers. In the 
long years of the struggle for liberty, the Cubans called the city "El Suelo 
Natal de Independencia" — Birthplace of Independence — because of the 
activity of the revolutionists of Matanzas. 




IN THE BELLA MAR CAVE. 



SOME HAVANA CHURCHES. 



Under Spanish rule the Roman Catholic Church was the established 
church of Cuba; public services of any other church were prohibited. In 
a circular issued by the Spanish Governor to induce immigration, it was 
provided, ''no others but Roman Catholics can be inhabitants of the Island." 
The Protestant Bible was interdicted in the Custom House. The British 
Government made repeated but futile efforts to secure for its subjects living 
in Havana permission to build a chapel for Protestant worship. So late 
as 1898, when the funeral of the ^Jaine victims was held by the city 
authorities in the Governor's Palace, and Captain Sigsbee requested of the 
Bishop of Havana that the Protestant burial service might be read over 
the Protestant dead, the request was politely declined, the Bishop express- 
ing regret for his inability to comply with it. All that Capt. Sigsbee could 
do was to "read the service a part at a time as opportunity offered, chiefly 
in the carriage on the way to the cemetery and afterward in my room at 
the hotel." The Spanish- American war changed all that. There are now 
in Havana various Protestant denominations. (For information as to 
Protestant church services see ' Churches, Protestant,'' in index.) 

The churches and religions orders were formerly very rich, possessing 
sugar plantations and coffee estates which had been bequeathed to them, 
ind drawing vast revenues from lands on which mortgages had been laid 
in their favor; the French Encyclopaedia once reviled the churches of 
Cuba because they were "so revoltingly rich." In many instances the 
estates of the monks were long ago confiscated and expropriated to the 
use of the State; the monasteries of San Agustin and Santo Domingo 
were converted into Government storehouses. 

Church festivals were observed with much pomp. At one period, it 
is recorded, 525 festivals were celebrated annually in the twenty-nine 
establishments the city then possessed, besides vespers, Ave Marias, 
masses and sermons. The Spanish historian Arrette affirms that in pomp 
and solemnity the functions of the church were unrivalled by any in 
Europe, and he tells us that more wax was consumed in candles for the 
churches of Havana in one month than in other cities for the whole year. 
Feast days were marked in the calendar as half cross days to be observed 
with special religious services, and whole cross days, on which business 
was wholly laid aside. In no other country than this land cf manana — ■ 
to-morrow, by-and-by — could such a system have obtained. An America 
in Cuba once recorded his complaint, "This is St. Joseph's Day, the patron 
saint of the collector of the port, so he refuses any goods to be landed on 
this day." 

The public ceremonies of Holy Week were elaborate; religious proces- 

113 



114 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



sions filled the streets; the Holy Sepulchre was borne in state by devotees 
jealous to perform the service; effigies of Christ and the Virgin and the 
images of the saints from the churches were carried through the streets. 

"The next day, which was Good Friday, about twilight, a long procession came 
trailing slowly through the streets under my window, bearing an image of the 
dead Christ lying upon a cloth of gold. It was accompanied by a body of soldiers 
holding their muskets reversed, and a band playing plaintive tunes; the crowds 
uncovered their heads as it passed." — YYm. Cullen Bryant. 

But this has passed away, along with many other of the old customs 
which were picturesque and interesting, but not in keeping with the 
spirit of the present day. In November, 1904, there was discussed in the 
Cuban Congress a law forbidding religious processions in the streets. 

The eccle:iastical government consists of the Archbishopric of Santiago 
and the Bishopric of Havana. The Cathedral has already been alluded to, 
some other churches may be noted. 

San Agustin, at Cuba and Amargura streets, formerly a monastery 
built in 1608, is the oldest church in the city. Among the decorations of 
the walls are to be noted the Stations of the Cross in twelve alto-relievos. 

Santa Catalina, on O'Reilly street, at the corner of Compostela, built 
1698, contains the bones of the martyrs Celestino and Lucida, which were 
brought from Rome. 

Santo Domingo, at O'Reilly and Mercaderes streets, was a monastery 
of the Dominicans. In the sacristy are preserved portraits of the Count 
and Countess of Casa Bayona, by whose liberality the monastery was 
founded in 1578. 

La Merced, at Cuba and Merced streets, is the wealthiest and most 
aristocratic church in the city, and a fashionable congregation may be 
seen at its Sunday morning mass. There is a full orchestra. The church 
was built in 1746, and rebuilt in 1792; and the interior has been remodeled 
and richly decorated within recent years. There are rich marble altars, 
handsome chapels, and many fine paintings. Among the treasured antiques 
is a curious old painting which represents a group of Indians being 
slaughtered by a number of Spaniards. In the center is a wooden cross, 
upon the transverse portion of which is seated Our Lady of Mercy holding 
the Infant Jesus in her arms. In the corner is an inscription in Spanish, 
of which the translation reads : 

"The Admiral Don Christopher Columbus and the Spanish Army, being possessed 
of the Cerro de la Vega, a place on the Spanish island, erected on it a cross, on 
whose right arm the 2d of May, 1493, in the night, there appeared with her most 
precious Son the Virgin Our Lady of Mercy. The Indians who occupied the 
island, as soon as they saw Her, drew their arrows and shot at Her; but as the 
arrows could not pierce the sacred wood, the Spaniards took courage, and falling upon 
the same Indians, killed a great number of them. And the person who saw this 
wonderful prodigy was the V. R. F. Juan." 



SCHOOL AND COLLEGE. 



"5 



Belen Church on Compostela street, at the corner of Luz, was built 
by Bishop Diego Evelino de Compostela in 1704. It takes its name from 
Santa Maria de Belen (Our Lady of Bethlehem), patroness in Spain of 
the Franciscan order of Jeronymites. The church and monastery, and 
free school in connection, were maintained by the Franciscan monks for 
nearly a century, and then the buildings were taken by the Government 
for use as barracks. In 1853 th e y were given to the Jesuits, who formed 
schools, established the College of Belen, set up an observatory reputed 
to be the best organized in Latin America, collected a library rich in prints 
and drawings illustrating Cuban history, and formed a museum of native 
woods and natural history specimens. James Anthony Froude wrote of 
them in 1887, when they had a school of 400 pay pupils and hundreds free : 
'They keep on a level with the age; they are men of learning; they are 
men of science ; they are the Royal Society of Cuba." The Belen arch 
spanning Calle del Sol is one of the picturesque bits of Havana. The 
columns and ceiling of the interior of the church are to be noted. Over the 
high altar is a Holy Family by Ribera. 



SCHOOL AND COLLEGE. 

For schools the United States expended in Cuba during the term of the 
government of intervention $10,000,000; this included the building of school 
houses and their equipment, the purchase of text-books, and other expendi- 
tures. A public school system was established modeled after that of 
Ohio. Primary instruction is compulsory. A suggestive phase of this 
school work was the conversion into school houses of various institutions 
which in Spanish times had been used for the maintenance of the Spanish 
army of occupation. Thus the Hospital Militar, an enormous building 
near the head of the harbor, which had been a hospital for Spanish 
soldiers, and was a perfect pest house of yellow fever, having a grim record 
of 60 per cent, of deaths among its patients, was cleaned up by the Ameri- 
can Sanitary Corps, and the lower story being rented as warehouses, in 
the second floor were established thirty-three school rooms, with their 
accessories and halls, providing accommodations for 2,000 children in daily 
attendance. In like manner the establishment of the Pirotecnia Militar, 
on the elevation near Principe, formerly occupied by Spanish troops, was 
remodeled and fitted for the use of the University of Havana, which found 
here much ampler quarters than in the old monastery on Obispo street. 
The Americans built the handsome Academy of Sciences (Academia de 
Ciencias) at a cost of $38,000, and the School of Arts and Trades at a cost 
ot over $250,000. A thousand Cuban teachers were sent to Harvard Col- 
lege in 1900 for a summer normal course, and two hundred more in 1901; 



n6 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



others were sent to New York State normal schools. The establishment 
of training schools for nurses has opened to the young women of the island 
opportunities of self-support before absolutely denied them. 

The University of Havana was opened by the Dominicans in the year 
1728 in their Convent of Santo Domingo, which extends from O'Reilly to 
Obispo street in the rear of the Palace. The building, which is more than 
300 years old, is a good specimen of Spanish monastic architecture. The 
walls are 6 feet thick and the court is surrounded with arcades and 
galleries. The exterior walls, from which the stucco has long since fallen 
away, are darkened by the centuries, and the monastery is one of the most 
venerable buildings in the city. The University has been removed to the 
Pirotecnia Militar. It possesses interesting collections of ethnology, 
zoology, geology and botany. The students have in some years numbered 
two thousand. 

Clubs. — The Centro Asturiano was founded in 1886 by fifty members 
of the Asturian colony, who established the society for (1) medical assist- 
ance; (2) instruction; (3) recreation and sport. It has a membership 
exceeding 10,000, and the value of its property in 1890 was reported as 
$300,000 Spanish gold. The club house on Zulueta street, opposite Central 
Park, is noteworthy for the richness of the interior decoration. The 
magnificent ball room, fitted up at an expense of $35,000, is lighted by 
chandeliers which were imported at a cost of $11,500. The club has a 
library containing 5,000 volumes, and provides night schools. At Cerro 
it maintains the Covadonga Sanitarium, an admirably conducted institu- 
tion, for the benefit of the members. The Centro Dependientes, or Asso- 
ciation of Havana Business Clerks, was founded in 1880 by a number of 
clerks, with the object of caring for the sick and providing instruction and 
recreation. The membership is in excess of 27000. The new white marble 
club house is on the Prado north of Central Park. The club maintains 
the Sanatarium of La Purisima Concepcion for its members. Other clubs 
are the Spanish Casino, on the Prado north of Central Park; Union Club, 
on Zulueta street, and German Club and American Club, Prado 83. The 
Centro Gallego, a society formed by Galicians, with a membership of 
over 25,000, has erected its new home on the Prado opposite Central Park. 



THE STANDARD GUIDE 



117 



Civil Divisions. 

For administrative purposes Cuba is divided into six provinces, which, 
named from the west eastward, are Pinar del Rio, Havana, Matanzas, 
Santa Clara, Camagiiey and Oriente. The provinces are divided 
into municipal districts, The municipal districts are in turn divided into 
barrios, of which there are approximately 1,500 in the island, including 
those constituting the cities. Such organizations as cities, in the sense in 
which we understand the term, do not exist in Cuba. The city of Havana 
has no legal limits, but comprises most of the municipal district of that 
name. This includes not only a large urban population, but also a small 
number of rural inhabitants 

Columbus in Cuba. 

Letter of Columbus, February, 1503, to Gabriel Sanchez. 

"The island called Johana, as well as the others in its neighborhood, is 
exceedingly fertile. It has numerous harbors on all sides, very safe and 
wide, above comparison with any I have ever seen. Through it flow many 
very broad and health-giving rivers; and there are in it numerous very 
lofty mountains. All these islands are very beautiful, and of quite differ- 
ent shapes, easy to be traversed, and full of the greatest variety of trees 
reaching to the stars. I think these never lose their leaves, as I saw them 
looking as green and lovely as they are wont to be in the month of May 
in Spain. Some of them were in leaf, and some in fruit; each flourishing 
in the condition its nature required. The nightingale was singing and 
various other little birds, when I was rambling among them in the month 
of November. There are also in the island called Johana seven or eight 
kinds of palms, which as readily surpass ours in height and beauty as do 
all the other trees, herbs and fruits. There are also wonderful pine 
•voods. fields and extensive meadows, birds of various kinds, and honey, 
and all the different metals except iron." 



O'Reilly and O'Donnell. 



General O'Reilly, after whom O'Reilly street was named, and General 
O'Donnell, whose name is associated with the Morro Lighthouse, and the 
O'Farrills and O'Lawlers, who were prominent in the history of Havana, 
were descended from Irishmen who emigrated from Ireland to Spain after 
the battle of the Boyne in 1690, and attained eminence in the Spanish 
service. Many of them appear to have done well in Cuba. The O'Reilly 
O'Farrill and O'Lawler families were prominent among the wealthiest 
sugar planters of the island during the last century. In the year 1704, in 
return for his services as alguacil mayor (high constable), Count O'Reilly 
y de Buena Vista received by royal grant a monopoly of carrying the 
carcasses of beef from the Havana slaughter house to the butcher shops. 
The office of high constable long since ceased to exist, but the beef 
monopoly was handed down through the O'Reilly family and was enjoyed 
by them as a vested right until the year 1899, when it was terminated by 
Gen. Brooke, then Military Governor of Havana. The price per carcass 
under the O'Reilly regime was fifty cents; when the monopoly was taken 
from them it was given to the city, which performed the same service 
for from 25 to 30 cents, a saving on the 300 carcasses daily of from $75 
to $90. When in 1784 France ceded Louisiana to Spain, and Don Antonio 
Ulloa went from Havana to New Orleans to take possession of the 
country for Their Catholic Majesties, the French inhabitants rebelled at 
Spanish domination, and drove Ulloa back to Havana ; thereupon Gen. 
Alexander O'Reilly organized a force here, sailed to New Orleans, and 
straightway made good the Spanish sovereignty over Louisiana. Of Gov. 
Leopoldo O'Donnell, who was Governor from 1843 to 1848, it is recorded 
that by an ingenuous system of personal revenue (in modern phrase, 
''graft"), he acquired in his short term such immense wealth that when he 
went back to Spain the King himself was envious of him. 



tt8 



CLIMATE. 



While Cuba lies within the tropics, the climate is much modified 
by its insular conditions. There is a high mean temperature with 
slight range of extremes during the year. The annual mean tem- 
perature of Havana is 77°, while the range between the mean of 82 0 
for the hottest month, August, and the mean of 71 0 for the coldest 
month, January, is only n°. The highest recorded maximum tem- 
perature of 100.6 0 is not higher than that of Northern cities of the 
United States. The heat is tempered by the trade winds, which blow 
from the northeast with but little variation throughout the year; the 
uncomfortable part of the day is the early morning hours before the 
breeze has sprung up. Nights are cool, both in winter and in summer. 

The year is divided into a wet and dry season, though the wet sea- 
son, comprising the months of May to October, inclusive, is not at all 
what Northern fancy has pictured it; for even in the rainy months the 
weather is usually clear until about 10 o'clock in the morning, between 
which hour and night there are frequent showers, while the nights 
are commonly clear. The winter climate is mild and delicious; the 
sky is clear, the atmosphere wonderfully transparent, and all nature is 
arrayed in an intensity and brilliancy of coloring, which never fails to 
arouse curiosity and delight when looked upon by eyes accustomed to 
the quieter hues of Northern landscapes. The nights are clear and 
balmy. These records are given by Ramon de la Sagua : 

Meteorological Conditions of Habana. 





Temperature. 


Humidity. 


Rainy 


Rainfall, 


Cloudy 


Clear 




Degrees F. 


Per Cent. 


Days. 


Inches. 


Days. 


Days. 






82 


8 


2.5 


5 


26 




74 


84 


7 


2.1 


8 


20 


March 




82.8 


6 


2.4 


7 


24 


April 




82.4 


4 


1.2 


5 


25 


May 




85.4 


8 


3.6 


8 


23 




81 


85. 


10 


5.1 


6 


24 


July 


82 


87.6 


12 


5.6 


6 


25 


August . . . 


82 


88.2 


12 


4.8 


6 


25 




80 


88.2 


14 


6. 


7 


23 




79 


85.2 


9 


3.2 


7 


24 




75 


86.2 


8 


3.3 


8 


22 




73 


84.8 


6 


1.2 


7 


24 




77 


85.15 


104 


41.0 


80 


285 



SUBURBS OF HAVANA. 



Vedado, on the Gulf west of the city, is an attractive suburb overlooking 
the sea and having the characteristics of a residence park, as the Spanish 
name signifies. The detached houses, many of which are elaborate and 
costly and present pleasing diversity of architectural design, are em- 
bowered in flowering vines and surrounded by gardens filled with tropical 
shrubs and flowers ; here are seen in profusion and of marvelous size many 
floral rarities which in northern climes are known as carefully protected 
conservatory plants. The route to Vedado is by a fine calzada, or boulevard, 
carriage fare $i or $1.50 for the round trip; or by the Vedado electric 
cars, fare five cents, time ten minutes ; it is a pleasant ride skirting the 
Gulf with a view seaward. The Vedado shore is a level shelf of coral 
rock, littered with shells and broken branches of coral thrown up by the 
surf. Bathing pools are excavated in the rock. A boating excursion of 
much interest may be made up the Almendares River, whose banks are 
lined with giant ceibas, royal palms and feathery bamboos. 

Chorrera, on the Gulf at the mouth of the Almendares River, is inter- 
esting for the relic of the old Torreon de la Chorrera, a fort built in 1646 
for protection against the pirates ; it is often called the Buccaneers' Fort. 
It was one of the defenses taken by the British in the siege of Havana in 
1762. According to Bernal Diazj when the town of San Cristobal was 
removed from the south coast, it was first established at Chorrera, after- 
ward moved to the present site, and in course of time came to be known as 
Havana, which was the name of the Indian tribe inhabiting the district. 

Cerro. — The suburb of Cerro (the word means hill) has always en- 
joyed a reputation for salubrity, and many wealthy families have made 
it their home. The Cerro road is one of the most attractive in Havana. 
Take Cerro cars. 

Jesus del Monte, on a hill rising 220 feet, is the highest point of 
Havana; many fine residences were built here in the days of large 
fortunes from sugar planting. A fine view may be had from tin 
grounds of the church of Nuestra Senora de la Guadaloupe. The route 
is by the Jesus del Monte cars. 

Marianao, on an elevated ridge ten miles west, is the favorite summer 
home of many Havana families. It has many handsome villas, among 
them the stately palace which was occupied by General Fitzhugh Lee 
when Military Governor. Marianao is one of the places to which 
excursions are arranged by the hotel interpreters; these trips provide the 
most satisfactory way of visiting the place. One whose visit to Cuba is 
limited to the vicinity of Havana, will gain from the Marianao excursion 
a good notion of Cuba and Cuban life. The route is by electric car, the 
Vedado line connecting; or by rail from the Concha station, reached 
by the Principe line. The stations on the railroad are Tulipan, named 

120 



SUBURBS OF HAVANA. 



121 



from the profusion of wild tulips; and where the road crosses the old 
Zanja (ditch) or aqueduct which formerly brought the Almendares water 
to Havana; Le Cienaga, with its ancient cemetery, Puentes Grandes, past 
the site of the Columbia Camp, the Cuban Army barracks at Quemados, 
overlooking the sea, beyond which is the Marianao station, where carriages 
are taken for the town and the attractions in the vicinity. 

La Playa de Marianao, the beach of Marianao, two miles distant 
and connected by rail, is the fashionable shore bathing resort of 
Havana. The Havana Yacht Club has its house here. 

At Regla, on the eastern side of the harbor opposite the city, con- 
nection is made by ferry from Luz wharf with the trains of the United 
Railways for Matanzas and other points. The place was visited by 
thousands when it had a bull ring, but there is nothing there now to attract 
visitors. It is an important railroad terminal and shipping point, and has 
immense sugar and tobacco warehouses (almacenes), with a statue to 
their builder, Juan Eduardo Fesser. The church is named in honor of 
Our Lady of Regla, who is special patroness of sailors and boatmen. There 
are displayed in the church many offerings of miniature arms, legs, hearts 
and other silver tokens, such as are sold in the religious shops and are 
given to a special Virgin or Saint who has answered prayers for cure of 
disease or other service. Regla was at one time notorious as the resort 
of a gang of pirates who operated on the north coast about Matanzas and 
Cardenas, and retired to Regla to dissipate their easily gotten wealth ir. 
high living and debauchery. It is recorded that when one of the leading 
pirates built a magnificent palace, from the exterior walls of which the red 
stucco constantly peeled off, his Regla neighbors explained the phenomenon 
by saying "so much blood is mixed with it that it cannot stick." The 
atrocities of the pirates on the coast of Cuba finally became so flagrant 
that the United States and Great Britain united to exterminate them. 
The last act of piracy occurred in the year 1839, when the brig Halcione, 
bound from Jamaica to Nova Scotia, was taken off Cape San Antonio and 
all of the crew were murdered except one man, who eluded discovery, 
swam ashore and gav? information which led to the capture of the pirates, 
and all of them were garroted in Havana. It was a nineteenth century 
illustration of that darker side of the profession of piracy, which was 
hinted at by old John Esquemeling in his "History of the Bucaniers of 
America," when, after drawing an alluring picture of the joys and rich 
rewards of the sea-rover's calling, he added by way of caution, "But that 



122 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



I may not give too much Encouragement to the Profession, I must inform 
my maritime Readers that the far greater Part of these Rovers are cut 
short in the Pursuit by a sudden Precipitation into the next World." 

Guanabacoa, three miles east of the city, via Regla, was established in 
the sixteenth century as an Indian town, the poverty stricken remnants 
of various tribes being gathered together here. From this humble begin- 
ning it had developed in 1854 mt0 the fashionable watering place of the 
island during the summer months, and it is still a favorite resort. The 
mineral baths of Santa Rita are reputed to have valuable medicinal quali- 
ties and are taken daily by many people. The churches contain shrines 
which are the resort of annual pilgrimages. Outside the city is the church 
of Potosi, containing the miracle-working image of Jesus Nazarino del 
Potosi. The scenery is fine about Guanabacoa and on the road between 
the city of Havana. In the hills of Guanabacoa is found liquid bitumen, 
which was used by Sebastian de Ocampo in 1508, when he careened his 
vessels and gave the place the name Puerto de Carenas. 

At Cojimar, beyond Guanabacoa, on the seashore, is a bathing beach. 
The old fort, which was one of the Havana defenses taken by the 
British, is called the "Little Morro." 

There are many fine drives in the neighborhood of Havana. Smooth 
macadamized highways called calzadas, lined with rows of almonds, royal 
palms and feathery bamboos, extend for miles through an attractive roll- 
ing country. To have seen only Havana, is not to have seen Cuba. Some 
conception of the natural beauties of the island may be had from the 
country near the city, nor need one go far to get a glimpse of the country 
life and the country ways, which are so interesting because so novel to 
northern eyes. Favorite drives are to Marianao, Vento and Santiago de 
Las Vegas. Beginning at the Cerro in Havana, a road runs 140 miles to 
Guana, and for a large part of the way is a palm-lined avenue, where 
automobilists find all the conditions favorable to the sport, and a course 
which is ideal for long distance racing. From Jesus del Monte are 
the roads to Giiines, and east to La Gallega, Matanzas and south to Bejucal 
and Batabano. From Regla, reached by ferry across the bay, the road 
to Guanabacoa gives commanding views of the harbor and city and gulf. 

Shooting in the vicinity of Havana comprises deer, quail and pigeons, 
wild ducks and other birds. Deer are protected by law from February 1 
to September 1 ; quail from March 1 to November 1 ; pigeons from April 
1 to October 1, all dates inclusive. These seasons were adopted at the 
suggestion of the Havana Gun Club, an organization whose purpose is 
to protect the game of the island. 



SOME CHAPTERS OF HAVANA HISTORY. 



I. — San Cristobal de la Habana. 

Columbus died before it had been determined whether Cuba was an 
island, or, as he suspected, a part of the continent of Asia, and not far 
removed from the dominion of the Great Chan. In 1508, two years 
after the death of Columbus, King Ferdinand commissioned Sebastian 
de Ocampo to explore the coast; and, sailing around Cuba, he estab- 
lished its island character. On the voyage he discovered this harbor, 
and put in here to careen his vessels and pitch them with the soft 
pitch such as is still found in the hills of Guanabacoa. From this cir- 
cumstance of careening his ships, he named the harbor the Puerto de 
Carenas, or Port of Careening. In 1518 Diego de Velazquez estab- 
lished at the mouth of the Guines river, on the south coast, at the 
place where Batabano now stands, a town which was called, in the 
form of that day, San Cristoval del Abana. The settlement was after- 
ward moved to the north coast, on the site now known as Chorrera. 
and thence it was again transferred and established at the Puerto de 
Carenas. From the records which have been preserved of the early 
days, we may assume that the beginning of the city was on the water 
iront near the Plaza de Armas; as has been told in an earlier chapter, 
the memorial chapel El Templete marks the spot where the first mass 
was said. With all its migrations, the town was still within the orig- 
inal Indian district of Havana, and retained the name San Cristobal de 
la Habana. In time the simple name Habana was used, or, as we 
know it, Havana. As Cuba perpetuates the Indian name of the island, 
so in the name Havana we have a permanent memorial of the native 
Americans who peopled the land before the coming of the Europeans. 

II. — Enemies by Sea. 

From the first, the city was the prey of sea rovers and pirates. The 
seamen of England and France and Holland made contemptuous mock 
of the King of Spain's pretensions to exclusive dominion in the West 
Indies. The Spanish settlements were plundered and burned by them 
whenever opportunity offered. The early history of Havana is for the 
most part a chronicle of how the city fared at the hands of these 
predatory sea rovers. In 1580 a special tax was imposed on the inhab- 
itants, called "la sisa de piragua," to provide funds for maintaining 
guard-boats to withstand the pirates. Something of the story has 
already been told in connection with the building of La Fuerza; here 
is a characteristic chapter from the history of those troubled times, 
as told by Ogilby: 

123 



124 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



After this, the Spaniards built all their houses of stone, and a fort at the mouth 
of the Harbor, yet nevertheless the City lay open on the land side; of which the 
English fleet, cruising about in those seas, being informed, landed not far from 
Havana and entered the City before day-break; the Spaniards this suddenly surprised, 
fled into the woods, while the English plundered and ransacked the City without any 
resistance. But this was not the last blow which Havana received, for during the 
wars between the Emperor Charles the Fifth and the French King, Henry the 
Second, a ship set sail with ninety soldiers from Diep to Cuba, where they made 
themselves masters of St. Jago, and carried great treasures away with them; thus 
enriched, they set in the night on Havana, but found their expectations frustrated, for 
all the houses were empty, the Spaniards, (being so often plundered) having re- 
moved all their goods to their country houses, which lay scattering about the 
Island. While'st the French were searching the houses, two Spaniards came under 
pretence of agreeing with them, but their design was chiefly to take an account of 
their e'nemies force. The French demanded five thousand Ducats of them: to which 
the two Spaniards replied, that all their goods would not raise so much: whereupon 
consulting some judged it best to comply with a forced necessity, and if they could 
not get anything abated, to pay the demanded sum; but most of them were of 
another opinion, alleging, that the number of the French was not equivalent to their 
demands, and that it would not be for their credit, to yield up their estates so 
tamely, without trying their title by the sword; this being judged fittest, they 
marched to engage them with a hundred and fifty-nine, which about midnight fell on 
the French, and at the first onset slew four of them; but upon the firing of the gun 
they were all alarmed, and after a small skirmish, put the Spaniards to flight. The 
conquerors, enraged at this treacherous plot of the .Spaniards, set fire on Havana, in 
which at that time was a good quantity of pitch and tar; with which the gates, win- 
dows, roofs and Pent-houses being all bedaubed over, were in a few hours all in a 
light flame; after which the churches in order for their firing, were also going to be 
overlaid with the same combustible matter; at which a Spaniard boldly desired, that 
the temples erected for Gods Service might be spared; To which he was answered, 
that people who keep not their promise, nor had any faith, had no need of churches 
to profess their faith in. The French, not satisfied with burning, pulled down the 
walls, and utterly demolished the fort. 

III.— The Key of the New World. 

Baracoa was the first capital of Cuba, and Santiago the second. In 
1552 the capital was transferred to Havana. As the Spanish posses- 
sions in America developed in wealth, and the mines of Mexico and 
Peru yielded their precious ores, the citv assumed ever-increasing im- 
portance as a strategic point commanding the Gulf, and as a rendez- 
vous where the galleons came together to proceed in company con- 
voyed by warships to Spain. Year after year saw the harbor filled 
with the plate fleets laden with gold and silver for the mother country. 
Extraordinary efforts were put forth, by the construction of fortifi- 
cations, to render the city's defenses impregnable. La Fuerza, built 
at an early date, was repeatedly enlarged and strengthened; the 
Morro and the Punta fortifications were added; and when an es- 
cutcheon was given to the city, the device typified this character of the 
place jus a Spanish stronghold. The Arms of the City, granted by 



SOME CHAPTERS OF HISTORY. 



125 



royal decree in 1665, consisted of three castles of silver on a 
blue field, and a golden key. The castles were La Fuerza. 
El Morro, and La Punta, guarding the harbor; and the 
key was significant of Havana's commercial and strategic position as 
the Key of the West Indies. The whole was surmounted by a crown, 
and the border was the necklace of the Golden Fleece. By a royal 
cedula dated May 24, 1634, Havana was formally given recognition under 
the title, Llai'e del Nuevo Mundo y Antemural dc las Indias Occidentales 
— Key of the Xew World and Bulwark of the West Indies. 

IV. — Ships and Slaves. 

The most important episode of Havana's history in the eighteenth 
century was the taking of the city by the British, after a siege of 
which the story has already been told. The two momentous and 
far-reaching results of the British occupation were the encouragement 
of the slave trade, by which the agricultural resources of the island 
were developed, and the opening of the port to the commerce of the 
world. For nearly three centuries Cuba had suffered by reason of the 
trade restrictions imposed by the Crown. So long as Santiago had 
been the capital of Cuba, trade between the island and the home ports 
had been restricted to that city. When Havana was made the capital 
in 1552, it then became the only city of Cuba which could trade with 
any other port, and the only pert to which it could send its ships was 
first Seville and afterward Cadiz. So determined was Spain to enforce 
these restrictions, that trading vessels were gathered into fleets 
(flotas) at Havana and convoyed thence by warships, to make sure 
that Havana cargoes went to Seville or Cadiz and to no other port. 
Trade with foreigners was prohibited under pain of death, and the 
confiscation of the goods involved. L'nder such oppressive con- 
ditions, commerce had been stifled for three centuries; but when the 
British came into possession, they threw the port open to the world. 
The harbor of Havana, which before had known only Spanish sailor 
oaths, now heard the polyglot of all seas. A thousand vessels entered 
the port in that year, and tens of thousands of African slaves were 
brought in to carry on the extensive agricultural operations set on 
foot by British enterprise. So powerful was the stimulus of the 
slave trade, that in the sixty years following, more than 400.000 slaves 
were brought to the island. When Spain regained Havana, the trade 
restrictions were restored, but they did not last. The impetus given 
to agriculture and commerce by the British was so radical and so pow- 
erful and far-reaching that the spirit of it prevailed against such re- 
actionary measures, and to this day the progress of Cuba's develop- 
ment and growth and expanding resources may be traced back to the 



126 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



time when the island was brought into trade relations with the rest 
of the world as a result of the expedition of Lord Albemarle. 

V.— Havana Within the Walls. 

In the years immediately following the restoration of Havana to 
Spanish dominion, renewed activity was manifested in enlarging and 
strengthening the defenses. Cabana, Atares and Principe were built, 
and batteries were established at all commanding points on the hills 
around the city. As the metropolis of one of the most fertile countries 
on the globe, the city grew in population and in riches. Vast wealth 
was concentrated here. In the early years of the last century Havana 
had become one of the gay capitals of the world. This is a picture of 
the city as Abiel Abbott saw it in 1829: 

"In the center of this city — a vast mass of stone and mortar, encircled by a high 
wall and the wall protected by a broad diteh of a hundred feet in width, which can 
be filled with wrter at pleasure for the safeguard of the city — it is impossible that a 
reflecting stranger should not be filled with deep interest. Every circumstance 
around him proclaims the importance of Havana. The turrets and portholes of the 
excavated rock of the Morro, frowning over the narrow entrance of the harbor; the 
strong battery answering to it on the opposite point; the long-range of cannon and 
barracks on the city side; the powerful fortifications that crest the opposite hill, all 
speak one language to the eye of the stranger — that Havana is the heart of Cuba, 
and must never be given up. It is evident, he perceives, that the city is worth all 
this care to preserve it. The bay, populous with vessels from the whole com- 
mercial world; the city a depot of mercantile and agricultural opulence; the im- 
mense extent of public buildings; the cathedral, churches, and convents; the Gov- 
ernor's palace, post office, and other public buildings, with the palaces of nobles and 
opulent gentlemen, some of which buildings cover squares; in short, a spot wholly 
occupied with buildings, except a very scanty portion devoted to lanes, for as to 
streets we can hardly allow that they have any, proclaim Havana within the walls 
one of the richest and most important spots, for the number of its roods, on the 
face of the earth." 

VI.— The Maine. 

In February, 1898, the United States battleship Maine, Captain Charles 
D. Sigsbee commanding, was ordered to Havana on a friendly visit, and 
to be in readiness to afford a refuge fcr American citizens, should occasion 
demand in the troubled condition of affairs then existing. The Maine, 
launched in 1890, was a second class battleship, 324 feet in length, 57 feet 
beam, 6,650 tons displacement. The officers numbered 26, the crew 328. 
The ship arrived at Havana on January 25, and was moored to a mooring 
buoy in the man-of-war anchorage off the Machina or naval sheers. At 
9:40 in the night of February 16, the ship was blown up by an explosion, 
which a board of inquiry subsequently determined was from the outside. 
Of the men, 254 were killed outright and others died afterward, making 
the total number of those killed 267; only nineteen of the crew were unin- 
jured. The ship was valued on her arrival at Havana at $5,000,000. On 
February 17 funeral services were held over nineteen bodies, the first 



SOME CHAPTERS OF HISTORY. 



12/ 



recovered from the wreck. The authorities of Havana conducted the 
funeral as a token of public sympathy, the Bishop of Havana officiating. 
The bodies lay in state in the Governor's Palace. The funeral cortege was 
with one exception the most imposing ever seen in the city. The burial 
was in a plot cf ground in Colon Cemetery given to the United States; 
subsequently the dead were removed to the National Cemetery at Arling- 
ton, in Virginia, opposite Washington. 

In his report to the Secretary of the Navy, sent on the night of the 
explosion, Captain Sigsbee wrote : "Public opinion should be suspended 
until further report." With what restraint the American people bore 
themselves is a matter of history; but the destruction of the Maine is 
fitly described by Captain Sigsbee as "the ultimate incident which com- 
pelled the people of the United States to regard Spain as an impossible 
neighbor." While the intervention of the United States in Cuba was not 
prompted by motives of revenge, it is nevertheless true that the motto, 
"Remember the Maine/' tersely expressed the popular feeling which pre- 
vailed throughout the country. 

The Maine sank in six fathoms of water, and gradually settled in the 
mud until little of the frame remained above the surface. The wreck has 
long been an obstruction to navigation demanding removal; and a grow- 
ing sentiment in the United States, that the wreck should be raised and 
the dead who sank with it should be recovered and given burial at Arling- 
ton, led to action by Congress in 1910 providing that this should be done. 
The wreck was removed in 1912, the hulk sunk five miles out at sea. 

There are several other sunken wrecks in the harbor. The American 
Government removed the wreck of the warship Alocha which had been 
burned and sunk in 1816, and had been an obstruction ever since. There 
were found in her thirty-four iron and brass cannon and tons of cannon 
balls. 

VII. — The Government of Intervention. 

American warships blockaded the harbor during the continuance of 
the Spanish-American War. In December, 1898, the Americans en- 
tered Havana, and the 17,000 troops of the Spanish garrison evacuated 
the city. On Sunday, January 1, 1899, Gen. Castellanos, the 136th and 
last of the Spanish Governors of Cuba, made formal surrender of 
Spanish sovereignty. The Americans found the city in an indescribable 
condition of filthiness, undertook the heroic task of cleansing these 
Augean stables, and before they relinquished Havana to the Cubans, 
on May 21, 1902, had made it one of the cleanest of cities. The 
Government of Intervention paved the streets, remodeled the parks 
and boulevards, rebuilt the docks, constructed the Malecon, converted 



128 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



numerous military establishments into public schools, introduced an 
American school system of public education, put in operation modern 
and efficient systems of sanitation; and above all and beyond all, 
eradicated the yellow fever, and converted Havana from the foul pest 
hole it had been for a century and a half into one of the healthiest 
cities of the world. 

VIII.— The Triumph over Yellow Fever. 

The eradication of the yellow fever from Cuba was rendered possible 
by the discovery that the disease was transmitted by the agency of a cer- 
tain mosquito. The demonstration of this fact was made by a Board of 
Investigation sent to Cuba by Surgecn-General Sternberg in the summer 
of 1900. The Board consisted of Major Walter Reed, Surgeon in the 
U. S. Army, and Acting-Surgeons James Carroll, Aristides Agramonte, 
and Jesse W. Lazear. The story of the investigation and its momentous 
results are told in a memoir of Dr. Reed prepared by Major W. D. McCaw, 
Surgeon U. S. Army, from which the following paragraphs are taken: 

"At this time the American authorities in Cuba had for a year and a half 
endeavored to diminish the disease and mortality of the Cuban towns, by 
general sanitary work, but while the health of the population showed 
distinct improvement and the mortality had greatly diminished, yellow 
fever apparently had been entirely unaffected by these measures. 

"Reed was convinced from the first that general sanitary measures alone 
would not check the disease but that its transmission was probably due 
to an insect. 

"Application was made to General Leonard Wood, the Military Governor 
or Cuba, for permission to conduct experiments on non-immune persons, 
and a liberal sum of money requested for the purpose of rewarding volun- 
teers who would submit themselves to experiment. Money and full 
authority to proceed were promptly granted, and to the everlasting glory 
of the American soldier, volunteers from the army offered themselves for 
experiment in plenty, and with the utmost fearlessness. 

"Before the arrangements were entirely completed, Dr. Carroll, a mem- 
ber of the commission, allowed himself to be bitten by a mosquito that 
twelve days previously had filled itself with the blood of a yellow fever 
patient. He suffered from a very severe attack, and his was the first ex- 
perimental case. Dr. Lazear also experimented on himself at the same 
time, but was not infected. Some days later, while in the yellow fever 
ward, he was bitten by a mosquito and noted the fact carefully. He 
acquired the disease in its most terrible form, and died a martyr to science, 
and a true hero. No other fatality occurred among the brave men who, in 
the course of the experiments, willingly exposed themselves to the infec- 
tion of the dreaded disease. 

"A camp was specially constructed for the experiments about four miles 



SOME CHAPTERS OF HISTORY, 



120 



from Havana, christened Camp Lazear in honor of the dead comrade. The 
inmates of the camp were put into most rigid quarantine and ample time 
was allowed to eliminate any possibility of the disease being brought in 
from Havana. 

"A completely mosquito-proof building was divided into two compart- 
ments by a wire screen partition ; infected insects were liberated on one 
side only. A brave non-immune entered and remained long enough to 
allow himself to be bitten several times. He was attacked by yellow fever, 
while two susceptible men in the other compartment did not acquire the 
disease, although sleeping there thirteen nights. This demonstrates in the 
simplest and most certain manner that the infectiousness of the building 
was due only to the presence of the insects. 

"Every attempt was made to infect individual by means of bedding, 
clothes, and other articles that iiad been used and soiled by patients suffer- 
ing with virulent yellow fever. 

"Volunteers slept in the room with and handled the most filthy articles 
for twenty nights, but not a symptom of yellow fever was noted among 
them, nor was their health in the slightest degree affected. Nevertheless 
they were not immune to the disease., for some of them were afterward 
purposely infected by mosquito bites. This experiment indicates at once 
the uselessness of destroying valuable property for fear of infection. 

"The details of the experiments are most interesting, but it must here 
suffice to briefly sum up the principal conclusions of this admirable board 
of investigators of which Reed was the master mind : 

"i. The specific agent in the causation of yellow fever exists in the 
blood of a patient for the first three days of his attack, after which time 
he ceases to be a menace to the health of ethers. 

"2. A mosquito of a single species, Stegomyia fas data, ingesting the 
blood of a patient during this infective period is powerless to convey the 
disease to another person by its bite until about twelve days have elapsed, 
but can do so thereafter for an indefinite period, probably during the 
remainder of its life. 

"3. The disease cannot in nature be spread in any other way than by the 
bite of the previously infected Stegomyia. Articles used and soiled by 
patients do not carry infection. 

"These conclusions pointed so clearly to the practical method of exter- 
minating the disease that they were at once accepted by the sanitary 
authorities in Cuba and put to the test in Havana, where for nearly a 
century and a half, by actual record, the disease had never failed to appear 
annually. 

"In February, 1901, the Chief Sanitary Officer in Havana. Major W. C 
Gorgas, Medical Department, U. S. Army, ins ituted measures to eradicate 
the disease, based entirely on the conclusions if the commission. Cases of 
yellow fever were required to be reported as promptly as possible, the 



130 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



patient was at first rigidly isolated, and immediately upon the report a 
force of men from the sanitary department visited the house. All the 
rooms of the building and of the neighboring houses were sealed and 
fumigated to destroy the mosquitoes present. Window and door screens 
were put up, and after death or recovery of the patient, his room was 
fumigated and every mosquito destroyed. A war of extermination was 
also waged against mosquitoes in general, and an energetic effort was 
made to diminish the number bred by draining standing water, screening 
tanks and vessels, using petroleum on water that could not be drained, 
and in the most systematic manner destroying the breeding places of the 
insects. 

"When the warm season returned a few cases occurred, but by Septem- 
ber, 1901, the last case of yellow fever originated in Havana, since which 
time the city has been entirely exempt from the terrible disease that had 
there kept stronghold for a hundred and fifty years. 

"The destruction of the most fatal epidemic disease of the western hemi- 
sphere in its favorite home city is but the beginning of the benefit to man- 
kind that may be expected to follow the work of Reed and his associates. 
There can be no manner of doubt should Mexico, Brazil, and the Central 
American Republics, where the disease still exists, follow strictly the exam- 
ple set by Havana, that yellow fever will become extinct and the United 
States forever freed frcm the scourge, that has in the past slain thousands 
of our citizens and caused the loss of untold treasure." 



The Cortina de Valdes is a small park on the water front at the foot 
of Empedrado and Chacon streets, overlooking the harbor. In the old 
times it was a favorite promenade. The fountain was restored in 1900 by 
the Americans, who parked what was then an unkempt waste, mounted the 
cannon on carriages, and made the place attractive. 

Cubans call a person by a sound of the tongue and lips — P-s-t — some- 
thing like a hiss, after the fashion of some parts of the continent of 
Europe. "I have no doubt if a fire was to break out at the next door, a 
Cuban would call 'P-s-t/ " wrote Dana. They summon a person to come 
to them by the reverse of our motion. They raise the open hand with the 
palm outward, bending the fingers toward the person they are calling, a 
gesture which we should interpret to go away. 

The custom of powdering the face is practically universal with Cuban 
women, and prevails to some extent among the men ; the favorite cosmetic, 
called cascarilla, is made of finely pulverized egg shells. It is applied so 
lavishly that the effect is sometimes ghastly. 



GOVERNOR TACON. 



The name of Tacon is of frequent occurrence in these pages, as it must 
be in any book on Havana, for Miguel Tacon, who came to Cuba as 
Governor-General in 1834, left an indelible impress upon the character and 
development of the city. Under his predecessors there had been a reign 
of lawlessness and crime. The streets of Havana and the country roads 
were infested with highwaymen by day and by night. Merchants who 
had money to transfer from one town to another were compelled to pay 
for a military escort. People feared to venture into the streets at night; 
and wmen the citizens appealed to Governor Vivas, that w r orthy replied, 
"Do as I do; never go out after dark." Tacon was of different fibre. He 
came w T ith absolute power conferred by royal decree, giving him the 
authority of a commander of a city in a state of siege; and he adopted the 
most arbitrary and summary measures to stamp out crime. He appre- 
hended a few of the robbers and displayed their heads in parrot cages on 
the Punta walk for an example to all their kind; arrested vagrants and 
bearers of deadly weapons, getting together a chain-gang of 2,000 such 
convicts, and set them to work breaking stone for roads, sweeping the 
streets, and building highroads, paseos, prisons and aqueducts. To "Tacon's 
lapidarians" Havana owes many of its finest streets and public buildings. 
He put an end to frauds, robberies and murders; shut up the gambling 
houses, abolished the national card game of monte, forbidding it even in 
private houses; prohibited all gambling except betting at cock fights, 
which were licensed and taxed for the benefit of the State; and made 
travel safe in town and country alike, so that one might go where he 
pleased and keep his purse and his life. He held the captains of partidos 
(country magistrates) responsible for robberies committed in their dis- 
tricts by decreeing that the robber must be sent to Havana or the captain 
must make good the loss. Tacon was a despot and exercised a despot's 
power unrestrained by law or constitution. He seized men and without 
trial sent them into exile or immured them in the loathsome dungeons of 
Morro or Cabana, leaving their families and friends in absolute ignorance 
of their fate. 

Numerous stories have been told of him which seem to show that with 
all its harshness Tacon justice sometimes had a fine flavor of grim humor. 
His compelling way with delinquent debtors on complaint of their creditors 
was to pay the debt out of his own pocket and so make himself the creditor. 
An instance of this is related by Jonathan S. Jenkins, an American minia- 
ture painter, whose reminiscences of the Havana of that day have been 
printed in the Century Magazine. A feeble old man had walked from a 
distance in the country to complain to Tacon that a wealthy planter 
neighbor owed him money and would not pay it. The debtor, being then 
in Havana, Tacon sent the guard to bring him, and confronted him with 
the accuser. The planter admitted the claim and promised to pay as soon 

131 



THE STANDARD GUIDE 



as he returned home. "But," said Tacon, "this old man has walked a long 
way to obtain his rights. He must ride home. I will pay the debt of 
$1,500 and you can pay me." The old man went away rejoicing, records 
Mr. Jenkins; and the uneasy planter could not have Tacon for his creditor, 
so he repaid the money before he left the city. On another occasion, when 
a balloonist had sold several thousand dollars* worth of tickets, but the 
balloon failed to rise, Tacon confiscated the money and gave it to the 
orphan asylum. Again, when a successful slaving house brought to him 
a douceur of a doubloon a head on a cargo of slaves smuggled into Cuba in 
violation of the law, instead of accepting the "tainted money," as other 
Governors had done, he at first indignantly refused the bribe, but on sec- 
ond thought accepted it and turned it over to the orphan asylum. A char- 
acteristic anecdote related by Mr. Jenkins is one of Tacon and a celebrated 
fortune-teller of Havana: 

"This seer had great reputation in his mystical art, and immense influ- 
ence over the minds and purses of all classes, for superstition is a very 
common infirmity there. This impostor was in the interests of the slave- 
dealers and their captains, from whom he received 'hard' reasons to turn 
the influence to their benefit. Sailors were in the habit of consulting him 
to learn their fortune in going out to Africa on slave expeditions. The 
seer always foretold great gains and a safe trip. This so encouraged them 
to engage in this business that the captains of merchantmen found it 
difficult to obtain seamen, and they complained of the evil to Tacon. The 
general sent for the fortune-teller, who seemed flattered by the call, think- 
ing his Excellency wished the service of his art. When he appeared 
Tacon asked : 

"'Do you profess to know the future, and foretell its events?' 

" 'Yes, your Excellency'; and he began to shuffle his cards, and put him- 
self in a prophetic attitude, with a serious, profound looking expression 
of countenance. 

"'What do your cards pronounce?' asked Tacon, when he seemed to 
be ready. 

"He cut the cards, and began slowly to read : 'His Excellency is ex- 
tremely popular with all classes, and his horoscope reveals a bright future 
of wealth, power—' here he hesitated a moment. 

" 'Make your story short,' impatiently replied Tacon. T have other 
matters to attend to.' 

" 'That is all the future reveals to-day,' answered the diviner. 

" 'Not all, perhaps,' said Tacon. 'Give me your cards. I am a fortune- 
teller sometimes myself.' (Shuffled the cards and cut them.) T see that 
you will be breaking stone in the Morro Castle in less than an hour, and 
will stay there two years.' 

"Tacon ordered the guard to take him away and deliver him to the 
comandante of the castle, with an order for his imprisonment for two 
years at hard labor." 



LA GLOIRA. 



In the Province of Camaguey is situated the large and successful 
American Colony of La Gloria, which was the first American coloniza- 
tion enterprise started in the Island after the close of the Spanish War. 
Many of the other colonies in Cuba are off-shoots from this parent 
colony. La Gloria has always held the lead in population, acreage under 
cultivation and developments, as well as the superior quality of its fruits, 
and has been well described as a real bit of the United States trans- 
planted on Cuban soil. La Gloria consists of eight separate colonization 
enterprises, of which the town of La Gloria is the center. It is situated 
on the north coast of Camaguey Province about forty miles west of 
Nuevitas, which is its port of entry. The route from Nuevitas to La 
Gloria is through the inside waters of Nuevitas and Guanaja bays, which 
are connected by a canal through the Sabinal Peninsula, and regular 
service is maintained by La Gloria Transportation Company, with sail- 
ings from Nuevitas Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays on arrival of 
morning train from Camaguey, arriving at La Gloria the same day, and 
returning Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 

There is a variety of good soils, some well adapted to citrus fruit 
culture and others of proved value for vegetable growing — cabbages, 
onions, Irish potatoes and other products, for all of which a ready and 
profitable market is found in Cuba. Orange and grapefruit growing has 
been pursued with success and fruit has been marketed with profit for 
the past four years. Prof. F. S. Earle, agricultural editor of the Cuba 
Magazine, notes a grapefruit grove of one and one-half acres, of which 
the crop sold in 1912 for $226.80 on the trees. The chief enterprise of 
the colony is the cultivation of grapefruit and oranges. The making of 
pure cane syrup is one of the industries ; others in contemplation for the 
near future are marmalade making and pineapple canning. Packing and 
shipping facilities have reached a very satisfactory condition. A sugar 
mill grinds cane for individual growers, thus affording opportunity for 
the small sugar planter. 

La Gloria has a population of about 1,000 including the nearby planta- 
tions, with about 300 more settled in the surrounding colonies. The plan 
of the town is distinctly American, with wide streets intersecting each 
other at right angles, a large park in the center, and ample school and 
church lots. About 90 per cent, of the residents are English-speaking 
people, the majority being Americans with British a close second. The 
town has two churches, the Methodist Episcopal and the Episcopal. The 
daily needs of the people are well supplied by nine stores. The Cuban 
Government has built a macadam boulevard from the port on the bay, 
Port Viaro, to La Gloria, four and one-half miles. The Cubitas Valley, 
in which La Gloria is situated, is one of the most beautiful and fertile 
sections of the Island. 

133 



ENGLISH-SPANISH PHRASE BOOK. 



Spanish Pronunciation. 

N, 



0 



T 



U 



A, like a in father. 

B, soft, like an English b before I 
and r, and after m and n. Soft 
in other cases, like v, as escribir 
(ess-kree-veer') . 

C, like k before a, o, u, or a conso- 

nant. Like th before e and L 
Ch, like the ch in church. 

D, as in English, after /, n, s, r; in 

other cases somewhat like an 
open th. In common speech, be- 
tween two vowels, d almost dis- 
appears, as amado (amah'oh). 
Final d usually is silent, as usted 
(oostay'). 
E is short, like e in tell slightly 
drawled, or long like at in air (ai 
or ay). 

G before consonants and the vowels 
a, o, u, is hard, like the g in give. 
Before c and i soft like ch in the 
Scotch loch. 

H is never sounded except at the be- 
ginning of words and followed by 
ue. 

I like ee in meet, as vino. 

J before c and i a guttural, like the 
ch in the Scotch word loch, as 
paja (pa/i'ah). 

LI like the double // in the word bil- 
liards. In every-day speech it is 
almost reduced to y; e. g., calle 
(kah'yeh). 

Vuestra senoria is contracted into Vuesenoria or 
(your worship, grace) has become usted, still 



silent in the 
transformar 
with accent 



as in English, but 
prefix trans, as 
trahs-formar') ; n 
like ny in banyan. 
O, as in English go — never as in on. 

followed by u, is only used before 
e and i, and sounds like k : — 
aquel (ah-kel'). 
always pronounced like the s in 
sole, never like s. In every-day 
speech s is silent before r, e. g., 
dos reales (dohr'ay-ahl'ess). 
like t in tart, and never undergoes 
the variations it does in English, 
in creature, nation, etc. ; patio is 
pronounced pah'tee-oh. 
like oo in look. It is not pro- 
nounced if preceded by q or g 
and followed by e or i, as : — que 
(kay), guerrero (gayr-ray'roh), 
unless marked by the diaeresis, 
Camaguey (Cama-goo-ay) . When 
used in a diphthong it is pro- 
nounced as w, e. g., agua (ahg'- 
wah), hueso (whay'soh). 
X, between two vowels, and 
prefix ex, is pronounced 
English (ks). 
Y, when standing alone, like e in the 
English word me. 
like the English th in thought, as 
— zorra (thor'rah). 
F, L, M. P, R, V and Y as in English. 

Usia. Vuestra merced 
further contracted in 



in the 

as in 



Z, 



writing to V. or Vd. (you), which is the common form of address. The 
plural is ustedes, written Vms. or VV. Ex.: Comb estd usted? How are 
you? Es V. muy amable. You are very kind. 

Senor (Mr.), Seiiora (Mrs.), and Senorita (Miss) are used with the 
article, except when preceded by a possessive pronoun, mi, tu, etc., as : 
el senor Martinez, la senora Isla. The titles Don and Dona can only be 
used before Christian names, as: Don Pedro, Dona Aurora, el Senor 
Don Luis Pacheco, la Senora Dona Aurora de Guzman. 
The Definite Article has the following forms : — 

Masc. Fern. Neut. Masc. Fern. 

Sing., el, the la {el) lo. PL, los las. 

The Indefinite Article has the following forms : — 

Masc. Fern Masc. Fern. 

Sing., uno (un) una (un) PL, unos unas. 



134 



ENGLISH-SPANISH PHRASE BOOK. 



The Railway. 

To the station... A la estacion 

Here is my bag- A qui esta mi equi- 
gage paje 

Take it to the Llevalo al depos- 
baggage room ito de equipajes 

I wish to register Quiero registrar 
my baggage for mi equipaje j 
para 

The baggage is El equipaje tiene 
overweight exceso 

Get my baggage; Traigame el equi- 
here is the ticket paje: aqui esta 
el talon 

En donde esta la' 
sala de descan- 
so? 

the En donde esta 
el despacho de 
billetes? 

Where is the En donde esta 
buffet? el salon de re- 

frescos? 

Show me a time- Muestrame una 
table guia de ferro- 

carriles 



Do we change Hay cambio de 

cars here? coche aqui? 

How long do we Cuanto tiempo 

stop here? paramos aqui? 

Five minutes Cinco minutos 

Give me your Entregueme su bil- 

ticket lete 

Here it is Helo aqui 

The Steamboat. 



Where is the wait 
ing room? 



Where is 
ticket office 



When does the 
train start? 

A first (second) 
class single 
ticket to 

How much is it?. 

Is this the train 
for ? 

Do I change any- 
where on the 
journey? 

Where must I 
change for — ? 

Is this seat en- 
gaged? 

Here is the sta- 
tion 

Do we stop here? 
Do we alight 
here? 



Cuanto tardara en 
salir el tren? 

Un billete de pri- 
mera (segunda) 
sencillo para — 

Cuanto? 

Es este el tren 
para ? 

Hav algun cam- 
bio? 

En donde tengo 
que c a m b i a r 
para ? 

Esta tornado este 
asiento? 

He aqui la esta- 
cion 

Paramos aqui? 

Descendemos 



When do we 

start? 
When shall we 

arrive? 

Time is up! 

Wait for me ! . . . . 
Where is your 

baggage? 
Let us go down 

into the cabin 
Where is my 

berth? 
I want a room to 

myself 

Look for my 

things 
Is my baggage 

passed? 
Can I remove it? 



Cuando saldre- 

mos? 
Cuando llegare- 

mos ? 
Ya es tiempo! 
Aguardame ! 
Donde esta su 

equipaje? 
Bajaremos al ca- 

marote 
dial es mi litera? 

Quiero un cama- 
rote para mi 
solo 

Busque mis cosas 

Ha pasado revista 

mi equipaje? 
Puedo llevarmelo? 



Arrival. 



aqui 



Call a cab 

What is the fare 

by the journey, 

cabman? 
Put my baggage 

in the cab 
Drive me to — 
Drive quickly 

Drive slower 

Stop! Go on! 

Wait! 

I wish to get out 



Llame Y.un simon 
Cuanto es por la 
carrera.cochero ? 

Ponga Y. mi equi- 
paje en el simon 

Conduceme a 

Deprisa. Ande V 
ligero 

Afloja el paso 

Para! Sigue! 

Espera ! 

Deseo" salir 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



Hotel. 



Inn 

Boarding house. . 

Cafes, restaurants 

House 

I want a front 

room 
A back room. . . . 

K lower room. . . . 
On the lower floor. 
On the upper floor 

Office 

Elevator 

Guest 

Landlord 

Landlady 

Office clerk 

Man servant 

Maid 

Let us have sup- 
per soon 

Are our rooms 
ready? 

I want a bedroom 

Let me see the 

room 
What is the price 

of this room? 

That is too dear. . 

T want a cheaper 
one 

Have you a 
double-bedded 
room? 

Are there any 
letters for me? 

Can I have a bath? 

Give me the key 
of mv room 



La posada 

La casa de hue 

spedes 
Cafes, restauran- 

tes 
Casa 

Yo deseo un cu- 

arto al frente 
Un cuarto de 

fondo 
Un cuarto bajo 
En el piso bajo 
En el piso alto 
La oficina 
El ascensor 
El huesped 
El patron 
La patrona 
El empleado de 

oficina 
El mozo; criado 
La criada 
Denos V. la cena 

presto 
Estan nuestros 

cuartos prepa- 

rados? 
Yo quiero un dor- 

mitorio 
Dejeme ver la 

habitacion 
Cual es el precio 

de esta habita 

cion? 
Es demasiado 

cara 

Yo quiero una 

mas barata 
Tiene V. una hab- 

i t a c i 6 n con 

cama grande? 
Hay cartas para 

mi? 

Puedo tomar un 

bano 
Deme la Have dc 

mi habitacion 



Bring me some 
warm watei 

Take my baggage 
down 

Please show me 
where is 

The bath room. . 
Smoking room. . . 
My bedroom 



Ladies' toilet. . . . 



Men'? toilet. 



Parlor 

Kitchen 

Court, or yard. . . 

Dining room 

Stairway 

Lock 

Key 

It is time to go to 
bed 

Ismy room ready? 



Good night! 



Traigame V. agua 

caliente 
Baje V. mi equi- 

paje 

Favor de indi- 
c a r m e donde 
esta 

El cuarto de bano 
El cuarto de fumar 
Mi cuarto de dor- 
mir 

El escusado para 

senoras 
El escusado para 

hombres 
La sala 
La cocina 
El patio 
El comedor 
La escalera 
La cerradura 
La Have 

Ya es hora de 
buscar cama 

Esta lista mi hab- 
itacion? 

Buenas noches! 



Meals. 



Early breakfast... 
Late breakfast. . . 

Dinner 

Supper 

When do we 

breakfast? 
When do we 

dine? 
Is it dinner time? 
Breakfast is ready 



El desayuno 
El almuerzo 
La comida 
La cena 

A que hora al- 

morzamos? 
A que hora com- 

emos? 
Es horade comer? 
El almuerzo esta 

listo 



Table Service. 

Fork El tenedor 

Knife Un cuchillo 

Spoon Una cuchara 

Teaspoon Cucharilla paratc 

Plate El plat' 



EXGLJSh-SPANISH PHRASE BOOK. 



e 37 



Cup La taza 

Saucer El platillo 

Glass El vaso 

Napkin La servilleta 

Finger bowl Enjuagatorio 

Toothpicks Palitos (escarba- 

dientes) 

Quill pick Una pluma 

Corkscrew Un tirabuzon 

'Tip" La propina 

Breakfast. 

Is breakfast Esta preparado el 

ready? desayuno 
Breakfast is ready El desayuno esta 
preparado 

Pass me .... Paseme V. 

Bring some more Traigame a 1 g o 
mas 

Take some more Tome V. mas 

A piece of toast. Una tostada 

Cold meat Carne fria 

Coffee with milk. Cafe con leche 
Coffee without Cafe solo (cafe 
milk or cream. sin leche 6 
crema) 

Dinner. 

Show me the bill- Enserieme la lista 
of-fare de los platos 

What have you QuetieneV. listo? 
ready? 

What wine will Que vino quiere 

you have ? V. ? 

Here is the list. . He aqui la lista 
Are you hungry, Tiene A', hambre. 

thirsty? sed? 
I am very thirsty. Tengo mucho sed 
No, thank you... No, gracias 
Help yourself.... Sirvase V. 
It is excellent... Es excelente 
Cayenne pepper. . Pimienta cayeno 
The mustard pot. La mostacera 
Change the plates Cambie los platos 
Give me a clean Deme un tenedor 

fork limpio 



A clean knite.... Un cuchnio limpio 
Bring me a glass Traigame un vaso 

of water de agua 

Give me some- Deme V. algo que 

thing to drink beber 
Bring a saucer... Traiga V. un pla- 
tillo 

A little more milk Un poco mas de 
leche 

More bread Mas pan 

Bread. 

Rolls Panecillos 

Bread and butter. Pan y mantequilla 
Sweet bread..... Pan dulce 
French bread.... Pan frances 

Biscuits Bizcochos 

Toast Tostada 

Crackers Galletas 

In Town. 

Where shall we Adonde iremos? 
go? 

Which is the way Por donde seva 
to ? a ? 

Where does this Adonde va este 
road lead? camino? 

Straight before En linea derecha 
you 

To the right A la derecha 

To the left A la izquierda 

About a mile.... Cercadeuna milla 
Go up the street Suba V. la calle 
Is it far from here? Esta lejos de aqui? 
How far is it to— Cual es la dis- 

tancia hasta — ? 

Go quickly Ande A', ligero 

Go slowly Ande V. despacio 

Straight on En linea recta 

Let us go Yamonos 

Show me the way Enseneme V. el 

camino 

Turn to the right. Vuelva V. a la 
derecha 

Keep to the left. . Sigua V. a la iz- 
quierda 

Cross the road. . Cruce eJ camin*' 



138 



THE STANDARD UU1DE. 



fn what street En que caile esta? 
is ? 

Is this the way Es este el camino 
to ? para ? 

Please direct me Sirvase V. decirme 
the nearest way cual es el ca- 

to mino mas corto 

para 

Do you know Mr. Conoce V. al 
F.? Serior F. ? 

Is Mr. — , Mrs. — Esta el Senor — , 
at home? la Senora — , en 

casa? 

Post Office. 

Letter box Buzon 

Parcels Paquetes 

Number Numero 

Description Descripcion 

Value of contents Valor del conten- 
ido 

Postage paid Franqueada 

(carta) 

Place of destina- Destino 
tion 

Where is the tele- Donde esta la ofi- 
graph office? cina de telegra- 

fos? 

Post-office? La administracion 

de correos? 
Have you any let- Tiene V. cartas, 

ters, newspapers periodicos, para 

for Mr. ? el Senor ? 

What stamp will Que sello necesita 

this letter re- esta carta? 

require? 

To register a letter Certificar una 
carta 

Stamps Sellos 

Post cards Tarjetas postales 

Money order Libranza postal 

I wish to send — . Deseo enviar 

What is the cost Cual es el im- 

of ? porte de ? ■ 

What is the charge Cual es la tasa 

per word? por palabra? 

When does the Cuando sale el 

post leave? correo? 



When is the next Cuando eselprox- 

delivery ? imo reparto ? 

When does the A que hora se 
office close? cierrala oficina? 

How much in Cuanto es en mo- 
Spanish money? neda espanola? 

Greetings. 

Good morning... Buenos dias 
Good afternoon.. Buenas tardes 
Good evening.... Buenas tardes 

Good night Buenas noches 

How do you do?. Como esta V.? 
Very well, thanks; Muy bien, gracias; 

and you? y V. ? 

Nothing special.. Nada de particu- 
lar 

Shake hands Deme un apreton 

de manos 
Give me a kiss. .. Deme un beso 

Embrace me Deme un abrazo 

Good bye. A Dios 

Social. 

I cannot stay.... No puedo que- 
darme 

Do not go so soon No se vaya V. tan 
pronto 

I have a great Tengo mucho que 

deal to do hacer 
I thank you for Agradezco a V. su 

your visit visita 
A visiting card. .. Una tarjeta de 
visita 

What is your 

name? Comose llamaV.? 

My name is . . Me llamo 

What is your sur- Cual es su apel- 

name? lido? 
I hope I shall see Espero que le vol- 

you again soon vere a ver a V. 

pronto 

With much pleas- Con mucho gusto, 
ure, sir caballero 

Certainly Como no 

If you please Si V. gusta 

Thank you, or I Gracias, or rnuchi- 
thank you simas gracias 



ENGLISH-SPANISH PHRASE BOOK. 



Much obliged.... Muy agradecido 

Yes, sir Si. serior 

Yes, miss Si, senorita 

No, madam Xo, senora 

Allow me Permitame V. 

Bring me Traigame Y. 

Excuse me Perdoneme 

Give me Dadme 

Send me Enviame 

Tell me. or will Digame V. (More 
you tell me? politely: Sirvase 

V. decirme) 

Is there any one Hay algnien en 
here who speaks este lugar que 
English? hable ingles? 

I should like to Quisiera hablar 
speak to you con Y. 

What can I do for En que puedo ser- 
you? vir a V. ? 

I am grateful to Acepte Y. la ex- 
you presion de mi 

gratitud 

Please take a seat Sientese V. 

What do you Que se le ofrece 
want? a V. ? 

What do you Que quiere Y. de- 
mean? cir? 

I believe (think) 
so Creo que si 

I believe (think) 

not Creo que no 

What do you say? Que dice V.? 

I beg your par- Perdone Y. caba- 
don, sir Hero 

What didyouask?. Que pregunto V.? 

Speak louder Hable V. mas alto 

Do you under- 
stand? Entiende Y. ? 

I understand Entiendo 

I do not under- 
stand Xo entiendo 

Carry this Lleve Y. esto 

Take this away. . Quite Y. esto 

Up stairs Arriba 

Down stairs Abajo 

I am in a hurry. Estoy de prisa 

On horseback.... A caballo 



Will you have Quiere V. un 

some? poco? 
It is very warm. Hace mucho calor 

It is dark Esta obscuro 

It will soon be Pronto ^stara ob- 

dark scuro 
It is a fine day. .. Es un dia her- 
moso 

Expressions. 

What? Que? 

Is it possible?... De veras? 

Indeed! En verdad! 

That is impos- 
sible Es imposible 

I am very glad. . Eso me agrada 
muchisimo 

Pardon me. Perdoneme V. 

Excuse me Dispenseme V. 

Making Inquiries. 

Do you hear me? Me oye V.? 
Will youkindly — ? Hagame V. el 
favor (de) 

Do you under- 
stand me? Me comprende V.? 

What is that?.... Que es esto? 

Where is ?... Donde esta ? 

What do you call Como se dice esto 
that? en castellano? 

What does that 

mean? Que significa eso? 

What is that good 

for? De que sirve eso? 

Can I see Mr. B.? Puedo ver al 
Senor B.? 

When does he re- 
turn? Cuando volvera? 

I will call again Yolvere manana 
to-morrow, be- entre las diez y 
tween 10 and las once 
ii A. M. 

Speaking Spanish. 

Do you speak 

Spanish? Habla V. espanol? 

Castilian Spanish. Castellano 
Yes, sir. No, sir. Si, serior. No, 
senor 



THE STANDARD GUIDE 



140 

I do not speak It No lo hablo bien, 
well, but I un- pero entiendo 
derstand almost casi todo 
everything 

can sometimes A veces puedo 
make myself un- hacerme enten- 
derstood der 

I understand a lit- Lo entiendo un 
tie, but do not poco, pero no 
speak it lo hablo 

Very little Muy poco 

Do you under- 
stand me? Mecomprende V.? 

I understand you Le entiendo muy 
very well bien 

Tell me D'igame V. 

What is the name Como se llama 
of this in Span- esto en espanolr 
ish? 

What is that?. . . . Que es eso? 
The Time. 

Please tell me the Hagame V. el 
time favor de decirme 

que hora es 
What o'clock is it? Que hora es? 
At what time?. ... A que hora? 
9.00 A. M Las nueve de la 

manana 

7.00 P. M Las siete de la 

tarde 

Notices. 

Apartments Habitaciones 

Entrance Entrada 

Exit Salida 

Fire alarm Serial de incendio 

Furnished rooms. Habitaciones 

amuebladas 

Knock, ring Tocar, sonar 

Notice! Notificacion 

No admittance... No se permite la 

entrada 

No smoking al- No se permite 

lowed fumar 
No thoroughfare. Calle cerrada 
Please do not Sirvase V. no 

touch tocar 

Private Observado 



Public notice!.... Notificacion pub- 
lica 

Pull; push Tira; empuja 

Refreshments ... Refrescos 

To be let Se alquila 

Unfurnished Habitaciones sin 

rooms amueblar 
Unfurnished bed- Se alquilan dor- 
room to be let. mitorios sin 
amueblar 

The Shop. 

How much?...... Cuanto? 

That is too much. Esto es demasiado 

What is the price? Cual es el precio? 

Will you send Quiere V. enviar 

them at once? los enseguida? 

I wish to buy.... Quiero comprar 

I will take this. .. Tomare est-e-a-o 

Send them to.... Envielos V. a 

What is this a Cuanto vale la 

yard? vara? 

Show me some Ensefieme algnn 

cotton algodon 

Some gloves, Unos guantes, 

others otros 

This will do Esto basta 

Sewing silk Seda para coser 

Pins Alfileres 

Mixed pins; Un surtido de al- 

needles fileres; agujas 

It is too dear. ... Es demasiado caro 

Try on these Pruebe V. estos 

They fit you very Sientan a V. muy 

well bien 
I will take them 

with me Me quedocon ellos 

Send all this Mande V. todo 

home directly esto a casa cu- 
anto antes 

The bill La cuenta 

Health. 

How are you?... Como esta ustedr 

Pretty well Bastante bien 

I feel sick Siento nauseas 

Send for a doctor Mande V. venir 
un medico 



ENGLISH-SPAM SH PHRASE BOOK. 



I want to see a — Quiero ver a 

Where is there a Donde hay una 

drug store? botica? 
How much is the Cuanto lleva el 

doctor's fee for doctor por vis- 

a visit? ita? 
Have this pre- Prepare esta re- 

scription made ceta 

up 

One tablespoonful Una cucharada 
three times a tres veces al dia 
day 

To be taken after Tomese despues 

each meal cada comida 

Shake the bottle. Agitese la botella 
Outward applica- Solo para aplica 
tion only cion exterior 

Correspondence. 

I must write a Tengo que es 
letter cribir una carta 

I want some Necesito papel y 
paper and ink tinta 

Have you any?. . Tiene V.? 

Have you any Tiene V. algun 
thin note paper? papel fino de 
carta? 

Take this letter Lleve V. esta car- 
to the post ta al correo 

Pay the postage. Franqueela V. 

Some blotting Papel secante 
paper 

Postage stamps Sellos de correo 
Newspaper wrap- Tajas para peri- 

per odicos 
Please deliver this Tenga V. la bon- 
by hand dad de entregar 

esta por su pro- 
pia mano 

Furniture. 

Bed La cama 

Chair La silla 

Carpet La alfombra 

Candle Una vela 

Curtains Las cortinas 

Cuspidor La escupidera 

"Lamp La lampara 



Mirror El espejo 

Mattress El colchon 

Pillow-case La fonda 

Clean sheets Sabanas limpias 

Sofa — lounge .... Sofa — canape 
Rocking chair... El mecedor 
Open the window Abra V. la ven- 
tana 

Close the door. .. Cierre V. la puer- 
ta 

Ring the bell Toque V. la cam- 

panilla 

Bring me Traigame 

Soap, water and Jabon, agua y 
towels toallas 

Matches Fosforos 

Toilet paper .... Papel para excu- 
sados 

Soiled clothes.... Ropa sucia 
Clean clothes 

(laundry) Ropa limpia 

Body. 

Arm El brazo 

Bones Los huesos 

Calf of leg La pantorrilla 

Chin La barba 

Chest El pecho 

Eye El ojo 

Ear La oreja 

Face . . . . o La cara, el rostro 

Finger El dedo 

Foot El pie 

Forehead El frente 

Hair \ E1 pel ° 

( Los cabellos 

Hand La mano 

Head La cabeza 

Heart El corazon 

Knees Las rodillas 

Leg La pierna 

Lips Los labios 

Mouth La boca 

Nails Las unas 

Neck El cuello 



142 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 





La nariz 


C 1 IJ 


Til 

Los hombros 




El estomag© 




Los dientes 




T r\ c c\ ( \ r\c f\ c±\ mo 
J— <UC5 UCLlUb U.C1 ]JlC 




La lengua 




El pulgar 


Washing List. 


Collars 


Cuellos 


Cuffs 


Puhos 


X lCXllllv^l VVCllJLV^Ucil 


(nalpm dp flanplp 


Neckties 


Corbatas 


"NT i cr Vi +■ c Vi 1 t"f" c 


v^aiiiibd. ue uormii 


Pocket handker- 


Panuelos de bol- 


chiefs 


sillo 


Shirts 


Camisas 


^illc handkprrhipf ^ 


Pa.il uel dp c,pda 

J- till U \^ 1KJ O KX \-* O VJ. Cl 


Socks 


*Calcetines 




Medias 




Pantalntii' pO 

J- d 1 1 Let 1 11 1 v> o y 


T Tn dpr-vp<st 


Camiseta 


Waistcoat (vest). 


Lnaleco 


Apron 


Delantal 


T"> 1 • 

Bodice 


El cuerpo del ves- 






r 


Gorra 


f Vi atn 1 c o 


v^dllllbct LLC IIlUJCl 


T | f- r\ lira r* C 


1 a lyniinllnc 




Xraje (vestido) 


Dressing gown. . 


.bata 


Night caps 


Gorros de dormir 


Night gowns .... 


Camisas de dor- 




mir 


Petticoats 


Enaguas 


Petticoats, flannel. 


Enaguas de flanela 


Silk stockings. . . 


Medias de seda 


Sleeves 


Mangas 




Corse 


Napkins 


Servilletas 


Towels 


Toallas 


Where can I get 


Donde puedo cam- 


money changed? 


biar dinero? 


Where is the 


Donde esta el 


bank (a money- 


banco? 


changer) ? 





Will you give me Quiere V. darme 
Spanish money? moneda espan- 
ola? 

Animals. 

Bird El pajaro 

Bull El toro 

Cat El gato 

Cow La vaca 

Dog El perro 

Fish El pez 

Horse El caballo 

Mare La yegua 

Monkey El mono 

Mule La mula 

Ox El buey 

Parrot El papagayo 

Pig El cochino 

Sheep La oveja 

Snake La culebra 

World. 

The air El aire 

The earth. ....... La tierra 

The fire El fuego 

A fire (conflagra- 
tion) Un incendio 

The island La isla 

The moon La luna 

The river El rio 

The sea El mar 

The sky El cielo 

A star Una estrella 

The sun El sol 

The water El agua 

The world.. El mundo 

Man. 

Woman La rnujer 

Father El padre 

Mother La madre 

My husband Mi marido 

_ T ., (Mi esposa 

My wife i I 

( Mi senora 

Son — Daughter . . Hijo — Hija 

Child Nino, Nina 



ENGLISH-SPANISH PHRASE BOOK. 



143 



Baby La criatura 

The little boy.... El chiquito 

Boy El muchacho 

Girl . . . . , La muchacha 

Young man El joven 

Brother El hermano 

Sister La hermana 

Relatives Los parientes 

Uncle — Aunt .... El tio — La tia 

Cousin Primo, Prima 

Father-in-law. ... El suegro (padre 
politico) 

Mother-in-law ... La suegra (madre 
politica) 

Step-father El padrastro 

Step-mother .... La madrastra 
Brother-in-law. . . El cunado 
Sister-in-law .... La cunada 

I, he, she Yo, el, ella 

They Ellos, ellas 

You (singular)... Usted (written V.) 

You (plural) Ustedes (written 

VV. or Uds.) 

Sight. 

Near-sighted .... Miope 

Far-sighted presbite 

Eye-glasses Losanteojos (len- 

tes) 

Spectacles Los espejuelos 

Opera glass Los gemelos 

Personality. 

A blonde Una rubia 

A brunette Una triguefia 

Fair complexion. Tez blanca 

Swarthy Moreno 

Beautiful Hermosa, bella 

Pretty Bonita 

Forms of Letter. 

Dear Mr. Foster. Muy estimado 
Senor Foster 

( Muy Senor mios 
Dear Sir -J Muy Senor nues- 

( tro (from a firm) 



Muy Senores mios 
Muy Senores nu- 
estros (from a 
firm) 

Madam Muy Senora mia 

Metals. 

Copper El cobre 

Gold El oro 

Iron El hierro 

Lime La cal 

Silver La plata 

Steel El acero 

Tin . .. „ El estano 

Countries. 

Cuba Cuba 

Porto Rico Puerto Rico 

Havana La Habana 

United States.... Los Estados Uni- 
dos 

Mexico Mexico 

West Indies Las Antillas 

Colors. 

Black . Negro 

Blue Azul 

Brown Moreno 

Green Verde 

Gray Gris, pardo 

Pink Color de rosa 

Red Rojo, Colorado 

Vermillion Bermellon 

White Blanco 

Yellow Amarillo 

Time. 

Monday * . . . Limes 

Tuesday Martes 

Wednesday Miercoles 

Thursday Jueves 

Friday Viernes 

Saturday Sabado 

Sunday Domingo 

Midnight (La) media nochc 

The minute El minuto 

A month Un mes 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



'44 

Month, last El mes pasado 

Month, next El mes que viene 

Months, the Los meses 

January Enero 

February Febrero 

March Marzo 

April Abril 

May Mayo 

June Junio 

July Julio 

August Agosto 

September Septiembre 

October Octubre 

November ...... Noviembre 

December . Diciembre 

The morning La manana 

To-morrow Manana 

The night La noche 

A quarter Un cuarto 

Quarter of an hour Un cuarto de hora 

The seasons Las estaciones del 

ano 

Spring La primavera 

Summer El verano, el estio 

Autumn El otono 

Winter El invierno 

A second Un segundo 

Sunrise La salida del sol 

Sunset La puesta del sol 

The time El tiempo 

A telegram Un telegrama, un 

despacho 

To telegraph Telegrafiar 

The writing La escritura 

i uno, un, una 

2 dos 

3 • • • tres 

4 cuatro 

5 cinco 

6 seis 

7 siete 

8 ocho 

o nueve 

10 diez 



ii once 

12 doce 

13 trece 

14 catorce 

15 quince 

16 diez y seis 

17 diez y siete 

18 o . diez y echo 

19 diez y nueve 

20 veinte 

21 veinte y uno 

22 veinte y dos 

23 veinte y tres 

24 veinte y cuatro 

25 veinte y cinco 

26 veinte y seis 

27 veinte y siete 

28 veinte y ocho 

29 veinte y nueve 

30 treinta 

31 treinta y uno 

40 cuarenta 

41 cuarenta y uno 

50 cincuenta 

60 sesenta 

70 setenta 

80 ochenta 

90 noventa 

100 . ciento, cien 

101 ciento uno 

no ciento diez 

120 ciento veinte 

130 ciento treinta 

200 doscientos,-as 

300 trescientos,-as 

400 cuatrocientos,-as 

500 quinientos,-as 

600 seiscientos,-as 

700 setecientos,-as 

800 ochocientos,-as 

900 novecientos,-as 

1906 mil nove cientos 

seis 



The Roofs of Camaguey. 




CAMAGUEY. 

Camaguey (Puerto Principe), the capital of Puerto Principe province, 
is on the Cuba Railroad, 343 miles from Havana, and 197 miles from 
Santiago. It is also reached from Nuevitas, its seaport on the north 
coast, via the Puerto Principe & Nuevitas Railroad, which is the oldest 
railroad in Cuba. Also from the port of Antilla by Cuba Railroad. 

When Columbus explored the coast of Cuba during his first voyage, he 
entered the harbor on the north coast, to which he gave the name of 
Puerto Principe, in honor of Prince Ferdinand; and in 1515 a town was 
established with the name Santa Maria de Puerto Principe. A year later, 
in terror of the pirates, the inhabitants hastily removed into the interor 
and settled here at the Indian village of Camaguey. But even here the 
pirates were not to be eluded. Read the chronicles as written by John 
Esquemiling, a pirate himself, who served with that doughty captain, John 
Morgan. We have taken it from the original, and have reproduced the old 
type, that it may better preserve the flavor of the times. 

The town is very old, and looks its centuries. Its antiquity is charming. 
The projecting wooden window grilles, the heavy cornices and overhang- 
ing, fluted tiled roofs, the crumbling masonry, and the antique air of 



146 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




PLAZA AGRA MONTE. 



streets and houses make a succession of attractive pictures which lure the 
visitor to extended explorations. Many of the streets are so tortuous that 
it is impossible to see far ahead, and one is continually piqued to discover 
what new picture bit may be around the bend. No two streets in 
Camagtiey run parallel ; nor do any two meet ai right angles. The street 
plan is a study in curves; the stranger must direct his course by pure 
orientation. 

An accepted explanation of the crooked streets is that the newcomers 
staked their claims and built their houses at random, wherever they had 
happened to deposit their belongings; and that the streets were the out- 
growth of paths leading from house to house. But an ancient citizen of 
Nuevitas declares that his father told him that his father had told him 
that his father said — and so on back to the beginning — that the streets of 
Camaguey were made crooked on purpose to fool the pirates — an explanation 
so beautiful that it at least ought to be true. One is quite willing to accept 
it after a personal experience of the labyrinthian mazes. 

The city is in the center of a grazing country, and cattle raising 
has always been the principal industry. "The vicinity of Puerto Principe," 
wrote a traveler of the eighteenth century, "is nothing more than a 
vast plan, where half wild cattle are pastured. The proprietors are only 



C AM AGUEY— PUERTO PRINCIPE. 



147 




CAMAGUEY TINAJONES. 



assiduous to put in their chests the money brought by the overseers from 
their cattle farms, from whence they bring it forth only for the purposes 
of play or to carry on law suits which have been handed down from 
generation to generation." Before the breaking out of the last war, the 
Puerto Principe cattle numbered 8oo,ooo. The city was the chief source 
of meat supply for the island. There were sent annually to Havana alone 
more than 60,000 head of beef. The meat was commonly jerked — that is, 
salted and dried in the sun; thus prepared, it is called tasajo. An 
attendant industry was the manufacture of bone-black used in sugar 
refining. The best bulls for the Havana bull ring came from Puerto 
Principe, and here were produced the finest horses on the island. The 
cattle were killed in the wars ; but this is still the chief industry from 
which the town derives its support, and the country all about is still a 
cattle raising district. 

Among characteristic features of Camaguey houses are the tinajones or 
earthen jars for rain water. These are sometimes of immense size, stand- 



CAMAGUEY— PUERTO PRINCIPE. 149 

mg six feet in height, with a diameter of six feet, and a capacity of 500 
gallons. They have come down from the old days. All are dated, and the 
dates show that some of them are more than 100 years old ; none are 01 
more recent production than i860, in which year masons came from Spain 
who knew how to build cisterns. Despite the modern cistern, however, 
the Camagueyan still clings to the tinajon as a cherished domestic institu- 
tion; and to this day, when a house is to be built, the first step is to 
procure one of these venerable rainwater vessels, set it in place, and build 
the house with reference to it. The tinajones were turned on a potter's 
wheel over a core. Among the Spaniards the term tinajon is applied to a 
stout person with a large capacity for liquid refreshments. Camagiiey has 
also a supply of well water ; five artesian wells were drilled by the United 
States Government of intervention, two of them being 486 feet deep. 

From whatever direction Camagiiey is approached, its church towers 
stand out conspicuously above the embowering foliage against the sky. 
The first glimpse of the city from the west is of the towers through a 
grove of royal palms, and from the east they are seen beyond the plain 

rising above the flat surroundings 
in exaggerated heights and dignity. 
Nor are these qualities entirely lost 
on closer view, when in our ram- 
bles through the streets we come 
upon the churches lifting their gray 
mass above the low houses, and 
giving a dominating note to the 
picture. Most of the edifices are 
ancient, some of them many cen- 
turies old, the time-worn walls 
contributing in no small degree to 
the ancient appearance of the city 
The cathedral, Parroquial Mayor, 
on the Plaza de Agramonte, has a 
boy choir. In the Church of 
Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, 
there are services daily, with sing- 
ing by a choir of Carmelite monks. 
Other churches are those of 
Nuestra Senora de la Soledad, on 
Republica street; San Juan de 
Dios, San Francisco (Franciscan 
Order), Santa Ana, San Jose, 
Cristo (attached to which is the 
cemetery), the Chapel of the 
las MEKctDES. Siervas de Maria (Slaves of Mary, 




ISO 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



an order of nuns who nurse the sick), the Chapel of the Hermanas 
de los Pobres (Little Sisters of the Poor), Carmen (Iglesia del Carmen), 
the Chapel of the Ursuline Nuns (cloistered), and the Church of Nuestra 
Senora de la Caridad (Our Lady of Charity), in the suburb of La Caridad. 

The most interesting church is La Merced, built about the year 1628, by 
missionaries of Our Lady of Mercy, a Spanish order founded at Barcelona 
in 1250 for the redemption of slaves and captives and prisoners for debt. 
H ere in Camagiiey, the order died out until only one old priest was left to 
care for the church; and before his death it was taken over by the order 
of Bare-footed Carmelites, of whom there are now fifteen in the monastery 
attached to the church. They came from Spain. The church is open from 
6 to 10 in the morning, and 6 to 7 at night. Admission may be had at 
other hours by ringing the bell at the door of the monastery. Women are 
not allowed within the monastic precincts. 

The architectural lines of the interior are interesting, but the church 
lacks any richness of mural decoration. The high altar of silver is re- 
splendent; it was fashioned from 40,000 Spanish dollars; and there is a 
sepulchre of hammered silver, weighing 500 pounds, which contains an 
effigy of the body of Christ; in the processions of Good Friday the sepul- 
chre was carried through the streets on the shoulders of bearers who 
contended for the privilege. 

The church is remarkable for its extremely massive construction ; the 
walls are from 4 to 8 feet thick. Cannon have been fired from the arched 
roof. We may note in the tower an illustration of the hardness and 
durability of some of the Cuban woods ; in the steps where the stair bind- 
ing is of jiqui (iron wood) the bricks have been deeply worn by the tread 
of years, while the wood has been simply polished. 

The great feast day of Camagiiey is the festival of St. John the Baptist, 
June 24, Midsummer Day. For three days" the city gives itself up to 
merry-making, and the huge Cuban carts go about the streets filled with 
girls, who stop at the houses of their friends to dance. 

One of the quaint places to visit in quaint Camagiiey is the chapel of the 
Asylum Padre Valencia, an institution for the aged and the incurable. 
The asylum occupies the San Lazaro Hospital buildings, beyond the 
Tinima River, and is reached by carriage drive across the San Lazaro 
bridge. The commodious buildings surround extensive grounds and 
gardens, and have an air of comfort and good management. The San 
Lazaro Hospital, for lepers, was built by Father Valencia, and its chief 
interest for us centers in the memorials which have been preserved of 
his life and work. The hospital was established by the Ayuntamiento in 
T 735. but the enterprise languished until the year 1814, when the institution 
was rebuilt by Valenciano Jose de la Cruz Espi, or as he was affectionately 
called, Ei Padre Valencia, with alms which he personally begged, and 



LAS MERCEDES. 
Photograph by Mr. Henry Burnett. 



152 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



the actual work of building having been done largely with his own hands. 
The chapel contains his tomb, with the epitaph : 

u Aqui yace el V. P. F. Jose de la Cruz Espi, Misionero Apostolico, que 
en su vida alcanzo la gloria en al trato de la gente, i amplio la entrada de 
la casa i atrio del Senor. 1838." 

Which being Englished reads : "Here rests the venerable Father Jose 
de la Cruz Espi, Apostolic Missionary, who in life obtained glory by bis 
ministrations to the poor, and who made more ample the entrance to the 
porch of the mansions of our Lord.' , 

Father Valencia's room, "Cama del Padre Valencia," a narrow little 
cell, 3 feet by 6, contains the stone pillow he used and the rough board 
bed on which he slept. In the chapel are images of San Lazaro, patron 
saint of lepers, and San Roque with his dog. San Roque is the patron 
saint of those who languish in prisons or are sick in hospitals or are 
stricken with the plague. The story is that the saint (born in Languedoc 
in 1280) devoted his life to ministering to the sick, was himself plague- 
stricken, and crawling to a wood outside the city of Piacenza was kept 
from starving by his little dog, which every day repaired to the town and 
returned at evening with a loaf of bread in his mouth, though whence he 
obtained it none could tell. In representations of the saint, the dog is 
usually pictured as here, bringing the loaf of bread. Among other relics 
here treasured, there is preserved in a glass case a rude wooden cross, 
encrusted with salt, which was left by Valencia with the warning prophecy 
that when the salt should melt, the world would come to an end. 

Camaguey has always been renowned for its hospitality. Formerly there 
were no hotels. Strangers who came here on business were entertained 
by the merchants with whom they had dealings ; the practice still prevails, 
not only here but at Havana and elsewhere, and it has much to do with 
the lack of hotel accommodations in Cuba. Now that the old town, which 
was established here where it might be isolated and inaccessible, has been 
put in close touch with the world by the building of the Cuban Railroad, 
conditions have changed, and to-day in the Hotel Camagiiey it has the 
largest and most completely appointed hotel on the island. The immense 
building, which was the Spanish cavalry barracks, has been transformed by 
Sir William Van Horn into a most inviting and comfortable winter refuge 
for fugitives from the trying climate of the North. The spacious apart- 
ments are finished in handsome native woods ; there are interior courts 
filled with shrubs and flowers, and the large airy roof gardens look out to 
the red tile roofs and gray church towers of the town, and pastoral scenes 
of quiet beau'.y restful to look upon. The Hotel Camaguey is adapted 
primarily to meet the requirements of those who seek a warm, dry and equable 
winter climate, with repose of surroundings. The trade winds spring up 
with unfailing regularity in the afternoon; and the atmosphere and tem- 
perature of Camaguey have in large degree those desirable qualities which 
have given fame to Nassau. 



C AM AGUEY— PUERTO PRINCIPE. 



153 




NUESTRA SENORA DE LA SULLUAL*. 



There are many pleasant drives from the city; a favorite one is to the 
Santa Cruz bridge. The road leads across the Jatibonico River, which 
sometimes floods to the height of 21 feet above its dry weather flow ; and 
through the suburbs of La Caridad, passing the Casino, a public park, 
and the Church of Nuestra Senora de la Caridad. Near the church, in 
private grounds, is a remarkable stone well, hewn out of the solid rock, 
20 feet wide and 30 feet deep, and having winding steps cut in the side 



154 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 





LA CARIDAD. 



leading down to the water. The drive to the Santa Cruz gives pleasing 
views of the distant church towers and over fertile fields adorned here 
and there with palms and clumps of bamboos. We are likely to encounter 
here the huge creaking country cart, drawn by slow-paced oxen, urged on 
by the swarthy driver with his shout, "Arsa buey" — Go on, ox. Beyond 
the bridge the read leads for eight or ten miles through cattle ranches and 
highly cultivated farms. Another drive is to Salvaje Bridge, which crosses 
the Santa Cruz, here called the Salvaje. From La Caridad a macadamized 
road has been projected to Santiago; twenty miles of it were completed by 
the Americans. 

Camagiiey was always Criolisima — that is, the most Creole of Cuban 
towns — and its people were the most independent. The story goes that 
once upon a time when the Governor-General wished to make a demon- 
stration of the Spanish rule, he came in state to Puerto Principe, attended 
by his retinue, and the Plaza and public buildings were decorated for his 
reception, the Camagueyans closed their doors, shut tight their windows, 
and ignored him completely. The seat of the revolutionary government 
was in the Cubitas Hills, whose blue range is seen in the northern dis- 
tance. The intricate defiles were very favorable for the revolutionists' 
ways of campaigning, and the hills were called the Guerilla Eden. 

The color line was drawn more closely in Camagiiey than in other cities 
of Cuba. For one thing, there were fewer slaves, for the cattle industry 
did not require them ; and there has been less intermingling of the races 
here than elsewhere. The white inhabitants are almost entirely descended 
from twenty old and rich families. The place has always been famous for 
its fine horses, skilled horsemen and beautiful women ; it is claimed for it 
to-day that the percentage of beautiful women is larger than that of any 
other town on the island. 




CALLE REPUBLICA. 



To one of the plazas has been given the name Plaza Charles A. Dana, 
in grateful recognition of the services rendered to the cause of Cuban 
independence by the editor of the New York Sun. The central park of the 
city is the Plaza Agramonte, after the Cuban general. 

In the cemetery attached to Cristo Church are many handsome marble 
tombs, some of them elaborately adorned with engravings, statuary and 
other objects of artistic decoration. Even with respect to its dead Cama- 
gtiey is peculiar among the cities of Cuba; for, while the usual term of 
rental of graves throughout the island is from three to five years, here it is 
twenty; and many graves are owned in perpetuity, the chiseled marbles 
bearing the family names * successive generations. 



ON THE NORTH SHORE. 



Coasting the north shore affords a thoroughly enjoj^abie experi- 
ence. The ship's course is for most of the way quite near land, and 
the ports are so close together that there is none of the monotony 
of a long voyage at sea. Most of the harbors are landlocked bays, 
entered through narrow winding channels; many of the towns are 
picturesque, as Gibara and Baracoa; there is much that is novel to 
the northern eye; and the scenery is attractive, the interest growing 
as we proceed to the east and the mountain ranges come into view. 
There is much to engage the attention at sea and in port, and in some 
of the harbors steamers provide launch excursions for sightseeing, 
hunting and fishing, while the ship is receiving or diseharg'ng cargo. 

Cardenas is thirty miles east of Matanzas on Cardenas Bay, a harbor 
which is magnificent in extent, but shallow. Settled in 1839, the city is one 
of the youngest on the island, as it is one of the most flourishing; it ranks 
fifth in importance in importations and second in exportations. It is 
modern in plan and construction, with wide streets and pavements, sub- 
stantial buildings, handsome stores, an imposing cathedral and pleasant 
plaza. Americans have always been an important element in the business 
and social life, to such a degree that it has been called an American city. 
The Plaza del Recreo has a statue of Columbus, presented to the city in 
1862 by Queen Isabella II. A peculiar phenomenon of the harbor is the 
flow of fresh water which gushes up from subterranean rivers. The harbor 
contains extensive asphalt deposits, and vessels moor over the beds to 
dredge up their cargoes. The bay was the scene of the Winslow tragedy 
of the Spanish-American War. In old days Cardenas Bay was a strong- 
hold of the pirates, and a distributing point of their booty to the towns 
of the interior. There are large sugar plantatk ns in the vicinity. The 
exports are honey, wax and mahogany. The population in 1889 was 24,861. 

156 



ON THE NORTH SHORE. 



157 



Sagua la Grande is on the river of the same name, which is the most 
important of the north coast, being navigable for twenty miles. The port 
of entry, La Isabel, called also Isabella de Sagua, is a town built on stilts 
over the water. Among the interesting Sagua relics of the past is an 
ancient looped tower, which was built for protection against the pirates. 

Caibarien is the seaport of Remedios, five and a half miles inland, 
and is an important sugar exporting point. There are large plantations 
in the vicinity. Other industries are sponge fishing, mahogany and cedar 
cutting, and the production of honey. 

Nuevitas is situated on a very narrow, winding passage, four and a half 
miles in length. From the entrance open two bays, Mayabano and Nue- 
vitas. Vessels anchor in the harbor two miles from the wharf. Pas- 
sengers are conveyed to and from the ship in small boats, for which the 
fare is 50 cents. Nuevitas is the seaport of Puerto Principe, with which 
it is connected by the Puerto Principe & Nuevitas Railroad. The popu- 
lation in 1899 was 10,355. The town, situated in the center of a crescent 
range of hills surrounding the harbor, rises from the water in a series of 
terraces, and as seen from the bay the picture is pleasing. The Church of 
the Virgen de la Caridad and the municipal building stand out conspicuously 
on the summit of the hill. The bay is noted for its fish and sponges ; 
good tarpon fishing may be had. Numerous tame pelicans are a pleas- 
ing feature. The chief export of Nuevitas is sugar. Entering this 
harbor Oct. 28, 1492, Columbus named it Puerto Principe, and here in 
1515 was established the town of that name, which was afterward re- 
moved to the old Indian village of Camagiiey. The present Nuevitas 
was established in 1820. 

La Gloria, the well known American colony, is pleasantly situated four 
miles inland from Guanajay Bay, fifty miles west of Nuevitas, from 
which port of entry it is reached by steamboat via a canal connecting 
Guanajay and Nuevitas bays. Established in 1899, the colony now has 
a substantial population of English-speaking people. A further note of 
La Gloria will be found on another page. Fruit growing and agriculture 
are the principal industries. 

Fifty miles east of Nuevitas is the harbor of Puerto Padre, entered 
through a winding channel between low banks of mangroves and coral 
rock, which looks like the Florida coquina. The ship anchors in the bay 
a mile from the town, which is small and without interest. The port is of 
growing importance as the center of extensive sugar production. The 
Chaparra sugar mill, of which the smoke stacks are seen in the distance 
on the left as the ship enters the harbor, is the largest in existence; it is 
owned by an American company in which Mrs. Hetty Green is interested. 

Gibara is another town which has picturesque situation on a hill slope 
rising from the water. The houses are brightly painted, and if we enter 
the harbor late in the day the scene is full of color. In the foreground 
the custom house overhanging the water is painted pink and red; to the 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




THE WATERFRONT OF GIBARA. 



right of this is a house of bright blue with white trimmings; just beyond, 
the cathedral is cream with red towers and domes ; and other color com- 
binations are of yellow and blue, and green and red. The houses fairly 
glow amid their settings of palm and banana ; and sea and sky and town 
unite to make a painted panorama. Enclosing the town is a high stone 
wall, which begins at the water's edge on the left, climbs the hill, extending 
along the crest, and descends to the sea on the right. At commanding 
points here and there it is complemented with high watchtowers. The 
wall was built in 1870, to keep out the Cuban insurgents ; it is falling into 
ruin, and the watchtowers are peopled by negroes, goats and dogs. 
Sharks of formidable size infest the bay, and alligators may be seen from 
the wharf. The Plaza and Cathedral are but a block distant from the 
wharf to the right, and just beyond is the relic of Fort San Fernandina, 
on the point of that name jutting into the bay and commanding the 
harbor. The fort long ago fell into disuse, but the old moat and the 
drawbridge still remain. If time permits, an excursion should be made 
to the top of the hill back of the town, a half-mile from the waterfront. 

On the crest of the hill are the remains of the Spanish barracks. The view 
here afforded is well worth the climb to attain it. Below lies the town, its 
predominating color tone the deep red of the tiles, which is interspersed 
with shades of blue, pink and brown, set off by the green foliage of the 
gardens and patios. Beyond the harbor entrance, the coast line stretches 
eastward in a series of crescents, marked by surf of silvery whiteness. 
There are hills all about, and in the southern distance lie the isolated 
mountains Silla de Gibara, the Saddle of Gibara, and Sugar Loaf and 
Table mountains, all densely timbered on the lower slopes, and near the 
summits steep and scarped and in certain lights shining like snow peaks. 

From Gibara the Holguin & Gibara Railroad runs to Holguin, a town 
lying on a high plain twenty miles inland. The elevated site and beautiful 



ON THE NORTH SHORE. 



159 



character imre it a favorite military station for troops newly arrived from 
Spain, who were sent here for acclimatization. Gen. Prando took 5,000 
troops tc Santiago when that city was under siege by the Americans, and 
10,000 more remained here. When the Spaniards evacuated the town they 
left 3,000 cases of small-pox, and the streets were filled with filth, dead 
animals and wrecked furniture. The entire city had to be cleaned and 
scraped from end to end. But here, as elsewhere in Cuba, the Americans 
did the work thoroughly, and Holguin has been a clean and healthy town 
ever since. There are still many reminders of the Spanish military occu- 
pation. On the summit of a high hill overlooking Holguin, and silhouetted 
against the blue sky, is an old Spanish watchtower, occupying a position 
whence the country might be scanned for miles in all directions. Near it 
stands a wooden cross, marking the spot to which vast multitudes resort 
for the celebration of the first of May, Dia de la Cruz — the Day of the 
Cross. As many as 10,000 people have participated in some of the festivals. 
Despite its Spanish garrisons, Holguin was the center of military opera- 
tions in the early days of the last war, and was at one time in the posses- 
sion of the revolutionists. Its patriotic people have bestowed on the three 
plazas the names of Cespedes, Garcia and Maceo. Holguin householders 
affect pink, red, yellow, brown and delicate pea-green for exterior colors; 
there are in the narrow streets many fascinating bits of architecture and 
color which halt the exploring visitor; and in the old Church of San Jose 
Holguin has a study to delight an artist. Holguin has direct rail con- 
nection with Cacocum, on the Cuba Railroad. 

Sagua de Tanamo. the next port east of Gibara, is entered through a 
narrow winding channel opening into a bay filled with clusters of islands, 
on which are little settlements of thatched houses surrounded by banana 
groves. The background is of mountains, parting very high, their slopes 
clothed with dense verdure in many shades of green. The combination 
of bay and islands and mountains makes up one of the loveliest land- 
scapes in Cuba. The town is situated ten miles inland on the Sagua River. 

SIipe Bay is the finest harbor on the north coast. There is no bar; the 
chart shows 198 to 210 feet in mid channel between Mayan and Ramon 
points, which mark the entrance from the sea. The slopes of Carenero 
Point just within the mouth of the harbor and the opposite shores are 
covered with miles of banana plantations, and a higher elevation glows 
with the vivid green 01 alfalfa fields. The bay opens before us like an 
inland sea; it is ten miles between shores from east to west, and eight 
miles from north to south. The channel carries deep water clear up to 
Corojal Bay in the northwest corner, where on Corojal Point, the 
terminus of the Cuba Railroad, Sir William Van Horn has located the 
model town of Antilla. One would go far to find a more beautiful site, 
or one of more generous possibilities and richer promise. From Corojal the 
eye takes in the broad sweep of bay and range of mountains in the 



i6o 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




GIBARA HOUSES. 



distance. High up on the face of one of them a waterfall catches the 
light and shines like a silver mirror. There is an expansiveness about 
Nipe, and a grandeur of scenerv which impress one unlike and beyond 
any other in Cuba. 

The country all about is fertile. Orange groves and banana plantations 
line the shores of the bay. Mayari on the Mayari River, which empties 
into the bay on the east, is famed for its fine tobacco. There are ex- 
tensive sugar plantations near Antilla; an immense sugar mill is among 
the projected enterprises; cattle ranches and truck farms are others. 
Vegetables grow here the year around; sweet potatoes (boniatos) once 
planted, establish themselves and grow indefinitely; tomatoes run wild. 
Nipe lies three degrees below Havana, but it is one day nearer the New 
York vegetable market. The bay was at one time selected as a rendezvous 
for the United States troops, and Sampson cleared the harbor of Spanish 
ships and sunken mines. Near the western shore at the mouth of the 
Mayari River are the wrecks of the Spanish gunboats "San Jorge" and 
"Hernan Cortez." The bay affords good fishing; there are Spanish 
mackerel, red snappers, tarpon and other fish of brilliant hues, with a pro- 
fusion of marine growth, fascinating in form and color. When the tide 
is favorable, submarine gardens of wonderful beauty are revealed near 
the mouth of the bay. There are sharks here, of course, as in all Cuban 



ON THE NORTH SHORE. 



161 



waters, and alligators. The game includes Guinea fowl, wild pigeons, 
quail and parrots (good eating when young, non-negctiable when old) 
Deer breed the year around ; captive fawns are common ; the deer is an 
introduced species. The only indigenous quadruped is the agouti, or 
hutia, a curious creature which looks like a cross between a rat and a 
woodchuck, lives on the bark of trees and is so tame and stupid that 
it may be stoned or killed with a club. The flesh is much esteemed by 
those who like it; hutias and boniatos (wild sweet potatoes) frequently 
constituted the whole of the insurgents' commissary. 

Baracoa is the extreme eastern port of the island. It is related in the 
"Journal of Columbus During His First Voyage," that after he had ex- 
plored the north coast of Cuba (to which he gave the name Johana), 
"attracted on the one hand by the longings and delight he felt to gaze 
upon the beauty and freshness of those lands, and on the other by a desire 
to complete the work he had undertaken," he directed his caravels to a 
remarkable harbor which he discovered here and to which he gave the 
name of Puerto Santo, and which was afterward called Puerto de Baracoa. 
On Nov. 27, 1492, his ships dropped anchor in the harbor, and a glowing 
account is given of the prospect which was here presented to him. 

"It was so that, if the Admiral had praised the other havens, he must praise this 
still more for its lands, climate, and people. He tells marvels of the beauty of 
the country and of the trees, there being palms and pine trees; and also of the 
great valley, which is not flat, but diversified by hill and dale, the most lovely scene 
in the world. Many streams flow from it, which fall from the mountains. 

"As soon as the ship was at anchor the Admiral jumped into the boat, to get 
soundings in the port, which is the shape of a hammer. When he was facing the 
entrance he found the mouth of a river on the south side of sufficient width for a 
galley to enter it, but so concealed that it is not visible until close to. Entering 
it for the length of the boat, there was a depth of from five to eight fathoms. In 
passing up it the freshness and beauty of the trees, the clearness of the water, and 
the birds, made it all so delightful that he wished never to leave them. He said 
to the men who were with him that to give a true relation to the Sovereigns of the 
things they had seen, a thousand tongues would not suffice, nor his hand to write 
it, for that it was like a scene of enchantment. He desired that many other prudent 
and credible witnesses might see it, and he was sure that they would be as unable 
to exaggerate the scene as he was. 

"He ascended the river for some distance, examined some branches of it, and, 
returning to the mouth, he found some pleasant groves of trees, like a delightful 
orchard. Here he came upon a canoe, dug out of one tree, as big as a galley of 
twelve benches, fastened under a boat-house made of wood, and thatched with 
palm leaves, so that it could be neither injured by sun nor by the water. He says 
that here would be the proper site for a town and fort, by reason of the good 
port, good water, good land, and abundance of fuel."— Journal of Columbus 
During His First Voyage. 

Nineteen years later, when Diego de Velazquez was commissioned by 
Diego Columbus, son of the Discoverer and Governor of the Indies, to 
establish settlements in Cuba and subjugate the island, he came to Baracoa, 
and here in 1511 was founded the first town on the island, and here began 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




BARACOA AND EL YUNQUE. 

Spanish rule in Cuba. He named the town de la Asuncion, in honor of the 
Virgin. In 1518 a cathedral was built named Asuncion de la Maria 
Santisima, and the first episcopal see was established. The first mass in 
Cuba was celebrated by Bartolome de Las Casas, the benevolent missionary 
who proved so great and good a friend of the Indians. Other noted per- 
sonages who had part with Velazquez in the founding of Baracoa and the 
subjugation of Cuba were Pamphilo de Narvaez and Hernando Cortes. 
From Baracoa, Velazquez proceeded to other parts of the island, establish- 
ing the Spanish rule and reducing the Indians to servitude.* Three years 
later, in 1514, he founded Santiago and Trinidad on the south coast, near 
the Spanish settlements in Jamaica and Santo Domingo, and then Bayamo, 
Puerto Principe, Sancti Spiritus, and in 1518 the San Cristobal de la 
Habana, which was the beginning of Havana. 
The Baracoa of to-day, with its castle-crowned hill and splendid moun- 

* From one of these expeditions the chronicle of the time relates — and it is a note 
of human interest among these dry-as-dust historical data: "Velazquez went away 
to Baracoa to marry a Lady that was come out of Spain for that Purpose. The 
Wedding was celebrated with much Joy on a Sunday, but the next Saturday his 
Wife dy'd." 



ON THE NORTH SHORE. 



163 




THE OLD FORT AT BARACOA. 



Lam background, lacks none of the charm which excited the admiration of 
Columbus. The town is built on a small peninsula and the crescent bays ; 
all about lie hill and mountains. Conspicuous in the west is the celebrated 
Yunque or Anvil., its scarped heights rising 2,000 feet, and the flat table top 
defined sharp and clear against the sky. The distinguishing features of 
the landscape are the cocoanut palms, which are seen everywhere, on shore 
and hill and mountain. Millions of cocoanuts are exported annually, 
with immense quantities of cocoanut oil, copra and other by-products. 
Second in importance only to the cocoanut trade is the banana industry; 
some of the choicest bananas exported to the United States go from 
Baracoa. From interior plantations the fruit is brought down to the 
town on gravity trolley wires. The shops are striking for their size 
and large stocks of goods; Baracoa is theidistributing point for the planta- 
tions all about. The old fort on the hill dates from a very early period ; 
tradition connects it with the founders. The country about Baracoa is 
extremely rough and rugged ; a peculiarity of travel is that men and 
women ride on the backs of oxen. There are numerous cascades in the 
vicinity and many caverns, in some of which have been found fossilized 
remains u\ animals and men, the human skulls showing the peculiar 
flattened form due to the artificial modeling of the head, which was 
practiced by the aborigines. 



5? 



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The Cuban Wooden Plow. 




SANTIAGO. 

Santiago de Cuba, the capital of the Province, is on the south coast., 
540 miles from Havana by the Cuba Railroad. It is reached also by steam- 
ship from Havana, and from Batabano and Cienfuegos on the south coast. 
The approach by water is through a harbor entrance only 180 yards in 
width beneath the battlements of the historic Morro Castle crowning the 
summit of a rocky point 200 feet high jutting into the sea on the right of 
the harbor entrance. The seaward side of the promontory is precipitous 
and impassable; on the inner face a long flight of crumbling steps hewn 
out of the solid rock leads up from the water's edge. Opposite the Morro 
on the left is La Socapa. Within the harbor in the rear of the Morro 
is Estrella Point with its Estrella (Star) Battery. Beyond on the left is 
Cayo Smith — Smith Key — a small island which was once captured and 
held by the British. It has a little village of red-tiled houses, with a 
chapel surmounting the hill in the center. Hobson sunk the Merrimac off 
Ratones, or Rat Key, seaward of a line from Cayo Smith and Churruca 
Point opposite. The small island near the opening of the bay was the 
old magazine for the supply of the ships of the Spanish Navy. On the 
right shore is the Cieno Reales, the coaling station, beyond which are seen 
the summer homes of Santiago merchants; then when we have passed 
Blanco Battery, the city comes into view. The town is built on a steep 
hillside overlooking the magnificent harbor, and is shut in on all sides by 
mountains. The bay is six miles in length and three miles wide at the 
greatest width. 

165 



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SANTIAGO. 



167 




A.NJJ LAlilhUKAL. 



The characteristic which impresses one is the wealth of coloring in which 
the city is arrayed. The houses are painted in all the hues of the rain- 
bow and glow against the blue sky or amid the embowering palms and 
vines in an atmosphere of phenomenal brilliancy. Havana and Matanzas 
are plain, and Camagiiey is dingy compared with Santiago. A typical bit 
is the Plaza Crombet, the little square on San Tomas street, dedicated to 
the memory of Santiago patriots who died in the struggle for freedom ; on 
one side of the square is a house, of which the body color is ultramarine 
blue; on the other side is the Church of San Francisco in old rose; in 
the plaza are flowering shrubs, rose, oleander and jasmine; and against 
the background of blue or of pink, depending upon where we stand, the 
flowers show like a painting on porcelain. One finds such effects at every 
turn. It is a veritable picture land. 



i68 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 




SAN CARLOS CLUB. 



As in all Cuban towns, the central plaza is the point about which 
cluster the public buildings, churches, hotels and clubs. The square was 
formerly called Plaza de la Reina (Plaza of the Queen), and afterward 
Plaza de Armas (Place of Arms), and then when Queen and foreign 
soldiery had passed out of Cuban history, it was rechristened Plaza de 
Cespedes, in commemoration of tha.t patriot whom Cubans delight to honor. 
It is a pleasant spot, shaded by grand old India laurels and adorned with 
flowers and shrubs. On the north is the municipal building, which was 
formerly the Governor's palace. On the east is the San Carlos Club, the 
richest club on the island outside of Havana; and adjoining this is the 
Casa Grande Hotel, south is the Cathedral. 

The Santiago Cathedral, the largest church on the island, is in the 
Hispano-American style, with two towers and a dome. The nave is very 
wide, and the side chapels are rich in rare marbles and fine mahogany. 
The stalls in the choir and the seats are of solid mahogany, and the effect 
is very rich. The vestments are exquisite examples of needlework wrought 
by the hands of pious women. Santiago became a bishopric in 1522, and 
has ever since been the metropolis of the Catholic Church in Cuba. The 
Cathedral is the third that has occupied this site. The first one was burnt, 
the second one was abandoned as unsafe, and eventually tumbled down, 
and the present building was erected in 1690. In the course of excavating 
among the ruins of the old for the new, there was brought to light a 
marble slab which proved to be the tombstone of Velazquez, and bore 
the date of his death, 1522. Formerly not only Cuba, but the two Floridas 
and Louisiana were under the Bishop of Santiago. In 1804 the diocese 



SANTIAGO. 



was elevated into an archbishopric, that of Havana remaining a bishopric. 
More than once the Cathedral has been looted, the chalices taken from its 
altar and the bells from its towers by pirates and buccaneers. About 1602 
Santiago was almost depopulated by the invasions of the pirates. In that 
year the Bishop returning to the city from a visit to Bayamo, was cap- 
tured by the pirate Giron, tied, stripped and carried off to the pirate's ship, 
where he was detained for eighty days, until ransomed by the payment of 
two hundred ducats and eighty arrobas of beef by Don Gregorio Ramos, 
who, after rescuing the Bishop, succeeded in destroying the pirate. 
Because of insecurity at Santiago, this Bishop attempted to establish his 
Cathedral at Havana. The Governor, however, in order to prevent the 
depopulation of Santiago, established here a subordinate Governor and 
charged him with the protection of the town against the pirates. 




THE UNITED STATES CONSULATE. 



170 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



Not far from the Plaza beyond the city hall is the Filarmonia Theatre, 
where, as Santiago is fond of recalling, Adelina Patti, at the age of four- 
teen, made her debut under the management of Gottschalk. 

Marina street, leading from plaza to bay, and San Tomas are the prin- 
cipal shopping streets. A fine view is afforded from the head of Marina 
street. The Alameda on the bay is the popular drive and promenade. 

Down by the water front beyond the railroad station to the east is the 
slaughter house, in the inclosing wall of which is a tablet placed by the 
Cubans in 1898 in memory of the crew of the Virginius who were exe- 
cuted on this spot. The inscription reads : "You who pass this place 
uncover the head. This spot is consecrated earth. For thirty years it has 
been blessed with the blood of patriots sacrificed by tyranny." The Vir- 
ginius affair was one of the incidents of ihe Ten Years' War. 

On October 31 a Spanish gunboat overhauled and captured off the island of 
Jamaica a steamer named the Virginius, which claimed American registry. The 
Spaniards regarded the vessel as a "filibuster" and their suspicions were apparently 
justified by the number and character of the crew. The Virginius was taken to 
Santiago de Cuba, where the crew was landed November 1. On the 4th, three 
Cubans and one American were shot by order of the local commander; on the 7th, 
thirty-seven more men, including Captain Fry, were likewise executed, and on the 
8th, twelve more shared the same fate. The 102 suvivors were in a way to being 
similarly disposed of, when the proceedings were interrupted by Commander Lorrain, 
of the British sloop-of-war Niobe, and the bloody work was stopped. The sum- 
mary condemnation of the vessel and its crew caused an explosion of wrath in the 
United States, and for a time the incident seemed certain to lead to war, but this 
was averted by diplomatic action which resulted in the Virginius and the remainder 
of her crew being surrendered at Bahia Honda, December 16, to the United States 
steamship Juniata. The latter started to tow her charge to New York, but, while 
off Frying Pan Shoals, the Virginius foundered. — Cabrera: "Cuba and the Cubans." 




THE SANTIAGO SCHOOL. 



SANTIAGO. 



171 



1 




SAN JUAN HILL. 



On a hill overlooking the town is the model school house built by General 
Wood at a cost of $50,000. of which $20,000 was contributed by Mr. Henry 
L. Higginson, of Boston, Mass. The building is of hard limestone, and 
is the finest of its kind in Cuba. It is interesting to note that the very 
first school in America was established in Santiago in 1522, in which year 
by a bull of Adrian VI., the Scholasteria was founded here for giving 
instruction in Latin. The hill on which the school is situated commands 
an interesting view of harbor, city and mountain ranges. 

In the cemetery is a monument of Dr. Antomarchi, the physician who 
attended Napoleon in his last illness at St. Helena. Shortly after the death 
of Napoleon, he set out on a tour of the world to find an only brother, 
and chance threw them together in the streets of Santiago. Electing to 
remain here, Dr. Antomarchi, who was of generous heart and charitabie 
to the poor, won the affection of the people, and when he died of yellow 
fever in 1826, the monument was erected by public subscription. 

Good roads in the vicinity afford many interesting drives to Boniato, 
El Cristo, San Juan battlefield, El Caney, San Luis, and other points. 
The Boniato military road ascends an elevation whence is spread before 
one the grand amphitheatre of Santiago Bay, with the sea beyond ; and 
away on the south may be seen the loom of the Blue Mountains of 
Jamaica. 

The country about the city is closely associated with the campaigns of 
the Spanish-American War. Morro Castle commands the harbor entrance. 



172 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



and four miles southeast are the fields of San Juan and Kettle Hills, El 
Caney and other points of fighting, now comprised in a public park and 
reached by carriage drive over an excellent road. At El Caney and San 
Juan Hill monuments record the events of July, 1898. The inscription of 
the simple shaft at San Juan reads : "In memory of the officers and men 
of the United States Army, who were killed in the assault and capture of 
this ridge, July 1st, 1898, and the siege of Santiago, July 1st to July 16th, 
1898. War between Spain and the United States." 

Near is the ceiba tree which stood midway between the American and 
Spanish lines, and beneath which on July 17, 1898, General Shafter 
received from General Toral the surrender of Santiago. 

Founded by Velazquez in 1514, Santiago is. second to Baracoa, the 
oldest town on the island. For a long period it was the capital and the 
only open port. It is now the second city in political importance and 
third in commerce. The population is about 60,000. Formerly a pest 
hole of yellow fever and other diseases, and left by the Spaniards in an 
unspeakably filthy and unsanitary condition, the town was cleaned and 
redeemed by the Americans, the yellow fever was extirpated, and San- 
tiago was converted into a fit and wholesome place for human beings to 




live in. It is to-day clean and 
healthy, and one of the most allur- 
ing and delightful cities to visit on 
this side of the Atlantic. 



To foreigners the city is known 
as Santiago; the Cubans call it 
Cuba. The full name is Santiago 
de Cuba. It was named after San 
Jago or Santiago, the patron saint 
of Spain, and was called Santiago 
de Cuba to distinguish it from 
Santiago de Compostella in Spain. 




ft 



THE VIRGIN OF COBRE. 



"fr 



The legend runs that when St. 
Peter appointed to the Apostles 
their respective spheres of labor, 
the peninsula of Spain was 
allotted to St. James the Greater, 
son of Zebedee. After he had 
received his crown of martyrdom 
on his return to Jerusalem, his 
body was conveyed to the sea 
coast at Joppa, where it was 
placed on shipboard and was 
miraculously carried in seven days 
through the Straits of Gibraltar 



SANTIAGO. 



173 



to Galicia, and being led by a miracle, was deposited in a mountain, and a 
chapel was built to mark the tomb. The shrine was forgotten, until in the 
beginning of the ninth century it was rediscovered through the agency of 
a star of extraordinary brilliancy, which hung over the place. A costly 
cathedral was then erected on the spot, which was named Santiago de 
Compostella (Campus Stellae — field of the star), and became a shrine to 
which devotees resorted in such multitudes that the pilgrimages gave rise 
to the popular name for the Milky Way — El Camino de Santiago — the 
road of Santiago. Thus recognized and honored, the Saint proved an 
important ally of the Spaniards against the Moors, frequently appearing 
in the midst of conflict in gleaming armor and turning the tide of battle. 
At the great battle of Clavijo, the Saint appeared on a milk-white steed, 
waving aloft a snow-white banner, and hewing down the ranks of the 
infidels, who were driven from the field, leaving behind them 6,000 slain. 
From that day to this "Santiago !" has been the battle cry of Spain. 

Cobre is a copper mining settlement on the southern side of the Cobre 
(Copper) Mountain range, nine miles west of Santiago. The mines are 
owned by a New York company, and the ore is shipped to the United 
States. The mines were worked at a very early day and supplied the 
material for the ordnance which defended the Spanish possessions in 
America. It was a curious circumstance that some of the guns with 
which the Americans bombarded Morro Castle were made of metal from 
the Cobre mines. Formerly the ore was transported to Santiago on the 
backs of horses, mules and camels. The camels fell victim to that minute 
insect pest the igua, which got into their feet and ruined them. 



Here at Cobre is the church of Nuestra Senora de la Caridad del 
Cobre (Our Lady of Charity of Cobre). It is the most famous and popu- 
lar shrine in Cuba, and its history reveals an interesting phase of the 
religious development of the island. In the year 1638 two men and a 
negro slave boy of the mining village of Hato, near Cobre, went to the 
Bay of Nipe to collect salt. As they were rowing on the bay after a 
storm, they saw at a distance on the surface of the water what appeared 
to be a sea bird. On nearer approach it proved to be an image of the 
Virgin, supported upon a board and floating upon the waves toward land 
as if bound for a haven. The Virgin supported on her arm the Blessed 
Child, and in her right hand held a gold cross. On the board were 
inscribed the words, "Yo soy la Virgen de la Caridad" — "I am the Virgin 
of Charity." Filled with wonder and awe, they took the image into the 
boat and proceeded on their errand, and having secured their store of salt 
returned to Hato. Intelligence of their wonderful discovery preceded 
them, and before they reached the village they were met by the Mayor and 
the people, who escorted the image into the town, where a palm-thatched 



The 




of Cobre. 



174 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



shrine was prepared to receive it. The ever-burning lamp was kindled 
before the altar, and to a pious hermit was entrusted the care and pro- 
tection of the image. One night as he was trimming the lamp he dis- 
covered that the Virgin had disappeared from her place. She was found 
upon the top of a hill in Cobre and was brought back to the shrine in 
Hato; but three times more she disappeared, and three times again was 
found on the hill of Cobre. Then the people knew that this was where the 
Virgin wished to remain ; and here in 1631 her church was built. The 
original church was in time succeeded by the magnificent sanctuary in 
which the precious image is still preserved. The figure is of wood, and is 
fifteen inches high. True to her name, Our Lady of Charity heard the 
prayers of those who made their appeal to her, and wrought many 
miracles in their behalf. As the years passed the miraculous interventions 
grew in number, and as her fame and honor increased, she became the 
popular patroness of the island. Although formal Papal sanction has not 
been accorded to her as such, the Virgin of Cobre has long been regarded 
as the especial Patron Saint of Cuba. She is the particular patron of sailors 
and fishermen ; their faith in her is simple and strong. "Everybody 
believes in the Virgin of Cobre," said a Havana fisherman ; "one does not 
have to be a Catholic to believe in her." On the scales of every fish in 
the waters of Cuba is depicted her image. The Cobre church is filled with 
costly gifts and votive offerings, and the furnishing and decorations are 
of great value. The sedan chair in which the image rests is fashioned 
from the most exquisite tortoise shell and inlaid with ivory and gold. 
The jewels with which the Virgin is decked are reputed to be worth 
$10,000; the vestments of her priests are worth as much more. One night 
in May, 1899, thieves broke into the church and looted it of treasures 
valued at $25,000. The Festival of the Virgin of Cobre annually is cele- 
brated on the 8th of September, on which occasion in some years as many 
as 15,000 pilgrims have resorted to the shrine. At these times the image 
is exposed to the view of the multitudes in a religious procession of 
solemn and imposing magnificence and pomp. Of late years the Cobre 
pilgrimage has lost something of its religious feeling, and has taken on the 
character of a picnic. Churches dedicated to Nuestra Senora de la Caridad 
are found in many places on the island, the image of the Virgin usually 
having beneath it a miniature boat carved from wood and containing the 
three salt gatherers who made the wonderful discovery in the Bay of Nipe 



CIENFUEGOS. 



Cienfuegos is in the Province of Santa Clara, on the south coast, 195 
miles from Havana. The route is all rail via the United Railways, or via 
Santa Clara and the Cuban Central railways. 

The town is situated six miles from the sea on Cienfuegos Bay. The 
harbor, originally called Jagua, was pronounced by Las Casas the finest 
in the world, with room for a thousand ships ; and at a very early day it 
was provided with a fort to protect the entrance, called Nuestra Senora 
de los Angeles de Jagua. In our time Captain Mahan has declared it to 
be the greatest harbor for strategic purposes in the Caribbean. It is in the 
direct line of the Panama Canal. The town was founded in 1819 by 
Louis Clouet, a French planter from Louisiana. The pretty story is told 
that the name came from an exclamation of one of Columbus's sailors, 
who seeing bonfires on the beach cried, "Cien fuegos!" — "A hundred fires." 
The fact, however, is that Clouet named his settlement after General Jose 
Cienfuegos, then Governor of Cuba. The town was destroyed by a hurri- 
cane, and was rebuilt in 1825. The city is modern in character, with 
streets forty feet wide; and is one of the busiest, most enterprising and 
energetic towns in Cuba. In commercial importance it is third in imports 
and fourth in exports. It is in the center of the richest sugar-producing 
district of the island. 

The city possesses one of the prettiest plazas in all Cuba, a double 
square decorated with laurels and royal palms. On Sunday and Thursday 
evenings the best people of the town gather to enjoy the music, which is 
rendered by a skilled band; the square is brilliant with electricity; seats 
and promenades are filled, and the scene is perfectly charming. The night 
air is soft and balmy. The women and girls are without head covering, or 
wear mantillas. Here, as elsewhere in Cuba, they follow the pretty 
Spanish custom of ornamenting the hair with a single flower The gather- 
ing is decorous to a degree, well-bred and courteous, animated and happy. 
It is an occasion for meeting and greeting friends and acquaintances, the 
exchange of small talk and the whisperings of soft confidences. These 
evening concerts on the plazas are a feature of Cuban cities, and show us 
•m extremely interesting and suggestive phase of the life of the people. 
The two sculptured lions which guard the plaza were presented to the 
city by Queen Isabella II. She also gave to the Cathedral facing the 
plaza the Madonna with costly robes of cloth of gold and violet purple, 



175 



176 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



whose shrine is an object of many pious pilgrimages. The Tomas Terry 
Theatre facing the plaza was built at a cost of $115,000, by the heirs of 
Tomas Terry, the millionaire sugar planter, of whom it contains a statue. 
The ceiling was decorated by the celebrated Spanish artist Salaya. The 
receipts of the theatre go to the support of schools. The Terry sugar 
plantations are among the very largest on the island. 

Numerous water excursions may be made about the city. Steamers 
run daily to the Constancia sugar estate on the Damuji River; on the 
same river are the Manulita, Dos Hermanos and Caroline plantations. On 
the Caunao River at the plantation of Soledad is the Harvard University 
experiment station for investigation and development of vegetable life. 
The bay is noted for the wonderful transparency of the water and the 
white sand bottom. The water is so clear that the porpoises which play 
about the bow of the ship are distinctly seen, to the minutest detail, as 
if they were in the air. The islands and shores of the harbor are of 
great natural beauty, and there are on the islands many most attractive 
suburban places with bright colored houses looking out from masses of 
foliage. Perhaps the brightest and most highly colored and fascinating 
marine view in Cuba is the little cluster of houses nestling under old 
fort Castillo de Jagua on Point Sabanilla at the entrance of the harbor. 
It is one of those pictures like a painting in a gilt frame that everywhere 
delight us in Cuba. The signal station on the hill, a quarter mile from 
the fort, gives a grand view north and south along the coast, and across 
the bay to the town. Ships sighted from here are signaled to the city. 
In the northwest rise the two isolated hills Tetas Tomasa, and on the 
southeast is the San Juan mountain range. Opposite Point Sabanilla is 
Point Colorados, where the troops of the United States were stationed 
in Rowell Barracks. The cable landing is on this point; and it was off 
this shore that, on May 11, 1898, while men in launches from the 
Windom were cutting the cables in a rain of lead from Spanish Mausers, 
Americans were first under a fire that drew blood. And it was from 
Cienfuegos that on February 6, 1899, General Castellanos with the residue 
of the Spanish Army, having come hither by rail from Havana, sailed for 
home in the Catalina, and thus completed the Spanish evacuation of Cuba. 



The Reciprocity Treaty with Cuba as ratified by the United States 
Senate, March 19, 1903, provides that all Cuban products (not on the free 
list) shall be admitted into the United States at a reduction of 20 per cent, 
from the rate of duty imposed by the United States on such articles of 
merchandise. All imports into Cuba from the United States (not on the 
free list) shall be entitled to a reduction of 20 per cent., except as to 
certain specified articles on which the reduction is more than 20 per cent 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



i77 



On the Caribbean Sea. 

Batabano, on the south coast, is reached from Havana by the ointed 
Railways. The town is the habitation of a race of sponge fishermen, 
hundreds of whose vessels are seen in adjacent waters. Many of the 
streets are canals. A characteristic feature of the place is the basket- 
trap for fish. The Batabano fisherman weaves it from cane, and uses it 
to-day as the Indian did before him. Southeast stretches the vast Zapata 
Swamp, so called from its shape of a shoe (zapata, shoe). Southwest 
lies the Isle of Pines, to wmich a steamer sails from Batabano. 

The route of the South Coast steamers includes Los Indios, Isle of 
Pines. Cienfuegos, Casilda. Tunas. Jucaro, Santa Cruz del Sur, Man- 
zanillo, Ensenada de Mora and Santiago de Cuba. 

The voyage is one of the most delightful sea trips imaginable. The 
ship's course so far as Cabo de Cruz is through waters sheltered by out- 
lying keys and as calm and smooth as a lake in a city park. There is not 
even any ground swell to disturb the equanimity of a voyager subject to 
seasickness. Hour after hour the ship glides through a tranquil sea, 
whose glassy plane is unbroken save by the flying fish which scuds from 
le bow and goes skimming like a swallow over the water. The Carib- 
bean sea water is sapphire; the coloring is intense; and against this deep 
background the silver crest of the wave from the ship shows in dazzling 
contrast. The richness of color effects pervades the entire picture of sea 
and land and sky; at certain hours of the day the very air itself is 
tinted. For long stretches the coast is rugged; hills' and mountains rise 
abruptly from the shore, their verdant slopes reflected in the water; and 
distant ranges lie like cloud banks on the horizon. The scenery is superb; 
travelers liken it to that of the Mediterranean. 

Cienfuegos is the first port after leaving the Isle of Pines. The harbor 
entrance is by a sharp turn completely shut off from view. On the ap- 
proach from sea there is apparently no break in the shore; once we 
are within, there appears to be no way out. Passing through the narrow 
and winding entrance channel three miles long, the ship enters the mag- 
nificent bay, eleven miles long and three to five miles wide, dotted here 
and there with palm-adorned islands, and surrounded by hills and moun- 
tains. The town lies on a slight elevation, six miles from the sea 
South from Cienfuegos the ship is constantly in sight of the San Juan 
range of mountains, extending along the coast for fifty miles and more, 
and presenting a panorama of much grandeur and constantly shifting as 
with the progress of the ship new peaks and valleys come into view. 
The mountains culminate in the peaks of San Juan and Potrerilla, the 
latter 3,200 feet in height. 

Casilda, forty-two miles from Cienfuegos, is the port of Trinidad, 
which enjoys the reputation of being one of the pleasantest and healthiest 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



places in Cuba, and always a favorite resort for invalids. The town 
occupies an elevated situation on the side of the mountain well called 
La Vigia (The Watchtower), whence it looks out over the sea, as it 
has looked for almost four centuries. It is, next to Baracoa, the oldest 
town in Cuba. In the old days when the ports were closed, an extensive 
contraband trade was carried on between Trinidad and Jamaica, the 
Spaniards exporting tobacco, mahogany and other products, and receiv- 
ing from the English in exchange negro slaves for the plantations. The 
neighboring country is very fertile; the sugar planters here were worth 
millions before the war destroyed their plantations. An American colony 
settled here is engaged in fruit culture. 

Tunas de Zaza has railroad connection with Sancti Spiritus on the 
Cuba Railroad. Jucaro is the southern terminus of the Jucaro and San 
Fernando Railroad, connecting at Ciego de Avila with the main line of 
the Cuba Railroad. The Jucaro and San Fernando was the military rail- 
road along the Trocha which here cut the island in two. The lines are 
shown on the map. 

Santa Cruz del Sur is a collection of diminutive toy houses built on 
a long narrow strip of land between the bay and a lagoon, and on the 
outer end looking like a South Sea village of thatched huts under the 
cocoanut palms. 

At Manzanillo they have one of those little drop-curtain plazas — 
Plaza del Oro— you have seen it before in a theatre, you say to yourself, 
with the royal palms and the stone Sphinxes at the corners, where the 
negro women sell roast pig smoking hot off their stands. This and the 
line of electric lights on the water front receding and dimming as your 
ship heads for Cape Cruz, are the pictures you will remember of Man- 
zanillo. Manzanillo is a terminal of the Cuba Railroad. 

From Cabo de Cruz to Santiago we are in sight of some of the grandest 
coast scenery in the world. The Sierra Maestra Mountains here rise 
boldly from the sea to a height of 5,000 and 6,000 feet. Ojo del Toro, 
the Eye of the Bull, towers above the cape; and beyond the Pico Tur- 
quino lifts its summit 8,320 feet in the air, the highest peak on the island. 
The bold and precipitous coast line continues all the way to Santiago 
harbor. 

' Sancti Spiritus. 

Sancti Spiritus, fifty miles southwest of Santa Clara, on the Cuba 
Railroad, was founded in 1514, and has much the air cf a relic of the past 
The streets are narrow and crooked, and the houses, as a rule, are small 
and of one story, though here and there are veritable palaces significant 
of the generous living of the rich cattle raiser- in the years before the 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



<79 



wars brought ruin. The town is delightfully situated in a rolling country, 
amid surroundings of much quiet beauty. There are green hills all around 
decked with royal palms and giant bamboos, and in the southwest rises the 
Pan of Azucar. bright green to the summit, with groups of other moun- 
tains purpling in the distance, Sancti Spiritus has a cathedral dating from 
1630, with quaint statues of Virgin and saints, and a church dedicated to 
La Virgen de la Caridad, her effigy attended by the little boat with the 
salt gatherers of Xipe. 

On the United Railways. 

Mention has been made of the daily excursion to Matanzas provided 
by the United Railways of Havana. There are many other interesting 
short trips from the city to near-by points reached by the United Railways. 

Cardenas and Sagua la Grande, elsewhere noted as on the north coast, 
have direct railway connection with Havana via the United Railways. 

Guines, forty-five miles southeast from Havana, is in a highly developed 
agricultural district, and is noted for its fine cattle and horses. The 
scenery is attractive and the place is a favorite resort of tourists and 
invalids. 

Jovellanos is the eastern terminus of the Regla Line and a junction 
for points on the Cardenas & Jucaro Railway, and through trains are run 
from Regla to Santa Clara, with connections for Cienfuegos, Cardenas, 
Sagua la Grande and for the Cuba Company's line. 

Madruga, sometimes called the Saratoga of Cuba, is a popular watering 
place, having warm sulphur springs and others of proved beneficial 
properties for bathing and dietetic purposes. It is fifty miles from 
Matanzas. 

San Antonio de los Banos (San Antonio of the Baths), twenty-three 
miles from Havana, is resorted to for its mineral springs and the health- 
ful peculiarities of its climate. Near the city is the disappearing river 
Ariguanabo, which, draining the large lake of the same name, flows into 
a cave and does not reappear. 

Santa Clara, 177 miles from Havana, is the capital of Santa Clara 
Province, and is the second largest inland town in Cuba ; the population 
by the census of 1899 being 13,763. It is a thriving, well built city in the 
midst of a rich grazing an(T agricultural country. One oT trie notable 
institutions of the town is the Teatro de la Caridad "(Chanty Theatre*), 
which was presented to the city by Dona Marta Abreu de Estevez; the 
income is devoted to the support of public schools. Santa Clara has an 
attractive plaza, and an old cathedral containing a picture of the Madonna 
painted in Spain and sent to the Santa Clara Mission more than 200 
years ago. 



i8o 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



The Western Railway. 

I he Western Railway extends from Havana south through the famous 
Vuelta Abajo tobacco growing district, 109 miles to the city of Pinar del 
Rio, and beyond this to Guam, 141 miles from Havana. While chiefly 
noted for its tobacco, which is the choicest in Cuba, the Pinar del Rio 
country is adapted also to sugar, cotton and fruits and vegetables, as well 
as to cattle grazing. There are here excellent citrus fruit lands, and 
many Americans and Canadians have engaged extensively in the culti- 
vation of oranges and grapefruit. The Western Railway by a liberal 
policy toward settlers is doing much to foster desirable colonization. 
There are many pretty little towns on the road; the stations are adorned 
with flowers, and the whole air of the country is of thrift and prosperity. 
The Cuban Experiment Station, at Santiago dc las Vegas, twelve miles 
south of Havana, is doing an important work in agricultural and horti- 
cultural experiments and study to extend the resources of the island. 

The Cuba Railroad. 

Santa Clara is an important railroad center. Here the United Rail- 
ways connect with the Cuba Railroad, which extends to Santiago on 
the south coast and Antilla, the new seaport on Nipe Bay, on the north 
coast. 

The building of the Cuba Railroad has opened up a territory which 
includes 70 per cent, of the area of the island, and comprises its most 
fertile portions. Some of the route was cut through mahogany forests, 
a quantity of this valuable w r ood being used for trestle building. There 
are grazing lands with a quality of grass which, experience has proven, 
makes them equal, if not superior, to any in the United States. For 
the farmer, there is almost no limit to the variety of his productions. 
Not only do the indigenous tropical fruits grow profusely, but there 
has been great success with potatoes, onions, tomatoes, egg plant, 
okra and other vegetables. The Cuba Company have provided a sys- 
tem of rail and steamship transportation via Antilla, and via Santiago, 
which gives direct shipment to the northern markets, and this part of 
Cuba is in time to be the early vegetable supply of the United States. 

Through trains connect Havana with Camagiiey and Santiago. 
The country is full of interest, the scenery is fascinating, and the trip 
gives a convincing and inspiring revelation of Cuba's magnificent 
resources and possibilities. 

SECOND AMERICAN INTERVENTION. 
Second American Intervention. — An insurrection in August, 1906, 
was followed in September by the resignation of President Palma, 
and the intervention of the United States. The American provisional 
government was terminated in January, 1908, when the Republic was 
restored. 



THE ISLE OF PINES. 



[From booklet of the United Railways of Havana.] 

The fifty miles sail to the Isle of Pines from Batabano on the south 
coast of Cuba is through waters so shallow and clear that the coral sea 
floor with all its bright-colored marine vegetation, over which gorgeously- 
tinted fish and great sharks dart and glide, is in full view. The Caribbean 
Sea is deeply blue, almost a sapphire shade, blending imperceptibly into 
the coloring of the sky. 

Heretofore the Isle of Pines has been associated in many people's mind 
with land sales, citrus fruit growing, and other industries of the soil, and 
it has signified but little to them. The Isle of Pines had not then come 
to its own, and it suffered the neglect of obscurity. To-day, however, the 
little island is quietly taking its place as one of the coming winter resorts. 

Progress has impressed its mark in every foot of ground around the 
several prosperous colonies in the northern half of the island, so that one 
sees on every hand extensive groves of oranges, grapefruit, limes, etc., in 
fine condition, and field after field of the luscious pineapple; but it is its 
wonderful climate, and the unquestioned salubrity of the island, that is 
really making a name for it. 

The Isle of Pines abounds in a great variety of means for outdoor life 
and sport, and its waters afford splendid fishing, which includes the 
tarpon, red snapper, cherna, blue fish, and numerous other gamy fish. 

Sea bathing is enjoyed safely all the year round at the beaches of 
Bibijagua and Nueva Gerona, and motor-launching and canoeing on the 
beautiful Casas River is a pastime popular with many residents and 
visitors, for which launches may be hired at reasonable rates in Nueva 
Gerona. 

It is an ideal place for the automobilist. There are 100 miles of excel- 
lent highways, connecting all the important colonies, and there are nearly 
ioo more of good by-roads, many of which are simply broadened trails 
worn through the great fragrant pine forests, but which are ideal for 
automobiles, nevertheless, as the soil packs hard and no ruts are formed. 
It is estimated that there are over ioo automobiles on the island, and this 
number is being constantly augmented. 

There are 4,850 registered American property owners and over 2,000 
actual American residents and settlers in the Isle of Pines, the total popu- 
lation of which is a little short of 5,000, so that it is no wonder it has 
become overwhelmingly American in all its leading characteristics, and that 
tourists from the United States feel entirely at home as soon as they 
arrive there. The island is now dotted with charming bungalows and hand- 
some residences of wealthy Americans who spend their winters in its 
superb climate. 

181 



THE ISLAND OF CUBA. 



From Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey: A Gazetteer of Cuba by 

Henry Gannett. 

Cuba, the largest and most populous of the West Indian Islands, lies 
directly south of Florida. Havana, the capital, is a little west of south of 
Key West, and is distant, in a straight line, about 100 miles, being separated 
from it by the Strait of Florida. Cuba lies between the meridians of 74" 
and 85 0 west of Greenwich, and between the parallels of latitude 19 0 40' 
and 23 0 33'. Its extreme length, from Cape Maisi on the east to Cape 
San Antonio on the west, is 730 miles. Its breadth differs greatly in differ- 
ent parts, ranging from 100 miles in the east to 25 miles in the neighbor- 
hood of Havana. Its area, including Isla de Pinos and the bordering keys, 
may be accepted as approximately 44,000 square miles. 

The north coast is mainly steep and rocky, and in the middle portion of 
the island is bordered by lines of islands and coral reefs, the passages 
through which are extremely intricate. These islands are low, mainly 
covered with mangrove thickets, and contain few inhabitants. In the west- 
ern part of Cuba the coast bluffs are low, being only about 100 feet in 
height; but they gradually rise eastward until in the neighborhood of 
Matanzas they are fully 500 feet above the sea. Further east, in Santa 
Clara and Puerto Principe, they are lower, while toward the eastern end of 
the island, in Santiago province, the coast is rugged and almost moun- 
tainous, rising from the sea in a succession of terraces. 

From Cape Maisi westward the south coast is bordered by mountains. 
That portion of it extending from Santiago to Cape Cruz is bordered by 
Sierra Maestra, which rises abruptly from the water to an altitude of 
several thousand feet. From Cape Cruz the coast trends northward around 
the Bay of Buena Esperanza, into which opens the broad and fertile valley 
of Rio Cauto, the largest stream of the island. The shores of this bay and 
most of the coast thence westward to Cape Antonio, the west point of 
Cuba, are low and marshy. This coast consists in the main of a narrow 
strip, but west of Cienfuegos it extends far inland, forming the great 
Zapata Swamp, an almost impenetrable region 75 miles in length in an 
east and west direction by 30 miles in breadth. Off the south coast are 
many low, marshy mangrove-covered islets. Most of the harbors of both 
the north and south coasts are of peculiar shape, with narrow, crooked 
entrances, opening within into basins of considerable extent, which are 
thus completely sheltered. This is the character of the harbors of Havana, 
Santiago, Cienfuegos, Guantanamo, and many others. 

The middle portion of the island, including the provinces of Havana, 
Matanzas, Santa Clara, and Puerto Principe, presents little relief, consist- 

182 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



183 



ing in the main of broad, undulating plains and shallow valleys. It is 
only at the two ends of the island, namely, in Pinar del Rio in the west 
and Santiago in the east, that the country presents any decided features 
Throughout Pinar del Rio Province runs a range of hills parallel to the 
coasts, a little north of the middle of the island, known as the Organ 
Mountains (Sierra de los Organos). These rise in many places to alti- 
tudes exceeding 2,000 feet, and culminate in the summit known as Guagui- 
bon, which has an altitude of about 2,500 feet. From the crest of this range, 
which forms a watershed, the land descends gently northward and south- 
ward to the coast. The southward slopes form the celebrated tobacco land 
known as Vuelta Abajo. 

In Santiago Province, at the eastern end of the island, the country breaks 
up in bold relief. Along the south coast is the Sierra Maestra, separating 
the coast from the valley of the Rio Cauto, reaching altitudes exceeding 
5,000 feet, and in one peak, Turquino, a height of 8,320 feet. This range 
extends unbroken from Cape Cruz eastward to Santiago, and thence in a 
more broken plateau-like form, to the east end of the island. The interior 
of Santiago Province north of the valley of the Cauto consists in the main 
of a greatly dissected plateau, rising to altitudes of 1,000 to 2,000 feet. 

The rivers of Cuba are numerous, but short, and few of them are of any 
importance to navigation. The largest stream is the Rio Cauto, in 
Santiago province, which drains a broad and very fertile valley. The next 
river in point of importance is the Sagua la Grande, on the north slope of 
the island, in Santa Clara Province, which is navigable for about twenty 
miles. Of the many other streams of the island few are navigable at all, 
while others are navigable only within their estuaries. 

Agriculture. 

Sugar cane is far the most important crop of the island, occupying 47 
per cent., or nearly one-half the cultivated area. Sweet potatoes are sec- 
ond on the list, with 11 per cent.; tobacco. 9 per cent. Bananas occupy 
little less than 9 per cent., and other crops occupy still smaller propor- 
tions. Sugar cane is produced in all the provinces of the island, but 
has the greatest importance in the provinces of Santa Clara and 
Matanzas, which together produced nearly three-fourths of the crop, as 
measured by the area under cultivation. Santiago produces about one- 
sixth of the crop and Havana about one-sixteenth, the proportions pro- 
duced in the ether provinces being trifling. 

Tobacco is produced in all the provinces, but three-fourths of the entire 
production, as measured by the area under cultivation, comes from the 
province of Pinar del Rio, and nearly all the remainder from Havana and 
Santa Clara. 

Coffee, which was once a product of great importance in Cuba, has 
diminished in recent years, and now out little is produced, that little com- 
ing from the provinces of Santiago and Santa Clara. 



184 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



Climate. 

The climate of Cuba is comparatively simple, and can be briefly de- 
scribed. With the long, narrow shape of the island and its great extent 
of coast line, it has, in high degree, an insular climate, with a high mean 
temperature, great humidity, and ample rainfall. Lying within the tropics, 
the island is subjected to the northeast trades, which blow over it steadily 
and constantly. They bring to the north coast and the northern slopes of 
the island an ample rainfall, while the southern slopes — especially at the 
eastern end, protected by the mountains from the trade winds — receive a 
much less amount of rainfall, although sufficient for the cultivation of most 
crops. At Havana, on the north coast, the mean temperature is 77°, and 
the range of temperature between the mean of the hottest month and that 
of the coldest month is from 82 ° to 71°. The highest temperature on record 
in Havana is 100.6 0 ; the lowest, 49.6 0 . 

History. 

Cuba was discovered by Columbus on Oct. 28, 1492, the landing being at 
or near the present city of Nuevitas, on the north coast of the province of 
Puerto Principe. He explored this coast from the Laguna de Moron east- 
ward to Cape Maisi, at the eastern end of the island. On this voyage and 
in other subsequent visits to the island, he explored most of the remaining 
parts of the coast. 

Trie occupation of Cuba by the Spaniards was continuous from the date 
of its colonization to 1898, with the exception of the English invasion of 
1762, during which Havana and a part of Matanzas Province were taken 
possession of by the English and held for a few months. On Dec. 10, 1898, 
the sovereignty of Spain in Cuba was relinquished by treaty to the United 
States, after a war which, though brief, was exceedingly disastrous to 
Spanish power and prestige. 

The aboriginal inhabitants of Cuba have been variously estimated at 
from 200,000 to 1,000,000. In all probability the former figures are nearer 
the truth. Upon the settlement of the island by the Europeans these natives 
were promptly enslaved and put to work on the plantations and in the 
mines, where they soon succumbed to hard work, and within fifty years of 
the date of first colonization, or long before the end of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, the aboriginal population of Cuba had been wiped off the face of the 
earth, and at present no trace of Indian blood is to be found in the island. 
Upon the destruction of the Indian element its place was taken by African 
slaves, and for centuries the African slave trade was a most profitable one, 
ceasinc only with the abolition of slavery in 1883. 



CUBAN FRUITS. 



Ccmpiied from "A Study of Cuban Fruits," by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
and Consular report on "Commerce and Industries of Cuba," by U. S. Consul- 
General Steinhart. 

Aguacate (Alligator Pear).— This is one of the most popular fruits in 
the Antilles; it is pear-shaped, green or purple, and often weighs two 
pounds. On account of the pulp being firm and marrow-like, it is also 
known as vegetable marrow cr midshipman's butter. A very good oil 
for soap comes from its seed. The tree is an evergreen about 25 or 30 
feet high. 

Banana (Platano). — There are many varieties of this fruit, which 
takes the place of bread in all country families, being eaten raw or 
cooked in many different ways. 

Cashew (Maranon). — The cashew is a small, oddly-shaped, yellow 
and red fruit, 2 or 3 inches long, and from 1^4 to 2 inches across the bot- 
tom, decreasing gradually in diameter toward the top, where it is half an 
inch narrower. The seed is small, grayish brown, and kidney-shaped, and 
is found on the outside of the fruit, at its lower extremity. This seed is 
poisonous until roasted, when it is eaten with great relish. The meat 
r esembles that of roasted chestnuts, but contains more oil. The pulp is 
of a dull yellow color, tough, and very juicy, with an acid astringent flavor 
and a marked, disagreeable odor. The fruit is not eaten raw, but is some- 
what used for preserving. 

Cocoanut. — This fruit grows in bunches of from 12 to 20 on a tree 
trom 60 to 90 feet high. The nut when fresh contains nearly one quart 
of milk, which is very much esteemed by the natives for refreshment. 
The thick rind or husk surrounding the nut is used in making cordage, 
matting, brushes, bags, etc. The valuable oil obtained from the nut is 
too well known to need description. 

Custard Apple (Chirimoya). — The custard apple, known in Cuba as 
the chirimoya, varies from a light green to a reddish brown in color, and 
is shaped like a strawberry, being somewhat broader than it is long. It has 
a thick skin, black seeds, and a pulp very similar to that of the sweet-sop 
in appearance and flavor. The fruit is eaten raw. 

Figs (Higos). — Figs of all kinds grow luxuriantly. 

Granadilla. — This fruit grows on the vine which bears the passion 
flower. The fruit is generally as large as a child's head. It is much liked 
by the natives, who use it in making refreshments and desserts. The 
meat is glutinous and contains many small seeds. 

Grapefruit (Toronja). — This is a popular fruit in Cuba. It has a 
mild, pleasant flavor, and is quite different from the acid, bitter fruit to 
which Americans are accustomed. It retails in Havana at about 2^ cents 
apiece. 

Guava (Guayaba). — There are several varieties of guava growing wild 

185 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



in all parts of Cuba. The guava is not eaten raw, but the finest jellies, 
pastes, etc., are made from it. 

Hicaco. — This is the fruit of a small shrub and is sometimes called the 
cocoa plum. It is small and round, varying from I to 3 inches in diameter, 
and averages about 8 grams (one-quarter ounce) in weight. The skin 
is thin and green in color, shading to red on one side. The surface is 
uneven, being covered with depressions which give it the shriveled appear- 
ance. The seed is large, weighing almost half as much as the fruit. 

Lima. — The lima is somewhat like the lime with the flavor of the grape. 

Lime (Limoncillo).— The lime grows wild in all parts of Cuba and 
replaces the lemon entirely for domestic uses, making beverages, etc., as 
it is used without the curing which the lemon undergoes, and, either in the 
ripe or green state, it is on the market during all seasons of the year. 

Mamey de Santo Domingo. — This is a large light brown fruit, ranging 
from 3 to 10 inches in diameter, the larger sizes weighing upward of 700 
grams (1.5 pounds). It has a heavy stem and a small blossom navel. 
The skin is thick and fibrous, the outer surface being tough and covered 
with small dark brown spots. The pulp is dark yellow in color, firm, and 
very juicy. It has a sweet characteristic flavor and a pleasant aromatic 
odor. In the large fruits the seed measures 3 inches in diameter, and is 
dark brown, very rough and hard, and clings tenaciously to the pulp. In 
some respects the fruit resembles a very large clingstone peach. It is eaten 
raw, and is also highly esteemed for preserving. The "mamey en almibar" 
are slices of the fruit preserved in sugar syrup. The "mermelade de 
mamey" is a marmalade of the fruit. 

Mamey Colorado. — The fruit derives its local name from a very slight 
outward resemblance to the mammee (Mammea americana) . The two 
fruits, however, are in no way related, nor do they resemble each other 
internally. The mamey Colorado is chocolate brown in color, oval or round 
in shape, and averages 700 grams (1.5 pounds) in weight. The skin is 
thick and coarse in texture. The pulp varies in color from yellowish 
red to deep scarlet, and is slightly fibrous, firm, but mealy and not juicy. 
Being sweet with very little acid the flavor is insipid. It is eaten in a 
fresh state and also stewed with sugar. 

Mango. — The mango is the popular tropical fruit of the native Cuban. 
It grows in all parts of the island, on trees by the roadside and in orchards 
of highly prized cultivated fruit. The kinds that have been cultivated 
only slightly, appeal but little to the foreigner, being very fibrous and 
having a strong resinous flavor. Both of these objections are overcome 
in the well cultivated varieties, however, and very soon a taste is acquired 
for all. The fruit is heart-shaped, some being long and nanow, while 
others are broad and short, or almost round. The skin is like that of an 
apple, but thicker, and varies in color from green to yellow, always shacUng 
to red on one side. The pulp is not unlike that of a peach in texture ana 



THE ST AX DA RD GUIDE. 



18- 



color, and is extremely juicy. The stone or -seed is very large compared 
with the rest of the fruit, and this is especially true of 'the uncultivated 
varieties. Long fibers cover the stone and run through the pulp of the 
fruit. The season in Cuba lasts from May to September. The mango is 
preferred in the raw state, but is used somewhat in the preparation of 
jams and jellies, and the green fruit when stewed resembles rhubarb. 
The "mangos en almibar" are pieces of mango preserved in a thick syrup, 
while the marmalade of mangos is a thin paste resembling apple sauce in 
appearance. 

Maxocillo. — This fruit grows in clusters. It is a species of plum; it 
is tart, and has one fibrous pit. 

Orange (Naranja). — Two varieties of orange are found, one a thin- 
skinned small fruit known as the "china," and the other a much larger 
fruit with a thick skin. The bitter orange, "naranja agria," resembles 
the large, thick-skinned, sweet orange in appearance, having a somewhat 
thicker skin, but being about the same size. It grows in a semi-wild state 
in many parts of the island, but is little used except for making "dukes' 5 " 
(sweets). Some of the finest Cuban preserves are made from this fruit. 
There are four kinds of orange preserves. "Pasta de naranja" is a thick 
orange paste sold in wooden boxes lined with paper. "Mennelade de 
naranja'' is similar to the orange marmalade found on the American 
market. The "naranja en almibar," or orange in syrup, consists of pieces 
of orange preserved in a heavy syrup and put up in glass. The "cascos 
de naranja," or preserved orange skins, are made by scraping or rasping 
the skins of oranges to remove the outer yellcw part and cooking them 
in a heavy sugar syrup. 

Papaya (Paw Paw). — The papaya is about 10 inches long, ccmmonly 
of an oblong form, ribbed, and having a thick fleshy rind. It is eaten 
raw, or, when green, is boiled as a vegetable; it is also pickled. The 
tree is about 20 feet high and has large leaves. Meat boiled with a 
small portion of the leaf is made tender ; or meat can be made tender 
by simply hanging it among the leaves. The seeds are used as a vermifuge. 

Sapota (Sapodilla). — There are two varieties of this fruit in Cuba, one 
being round and the other oval. In the Havana market the latter is in- 
correctly known as the nispero, this name being properly applied to the 
loquat (Eriobotrya japonica). The fruit averages slightly under 2 ounces- 
in weight, is brown to greenish-brown in color, appearing not unlike a very 
smooth, dark potato. The skin, however, is much thicker and of coarser 
texture. The pulp is yellowish brown in color, granular in texture, and 
very juicy. It has a characteristic odor and flavor and is very sweet. 
Sapotas are in season from about the 1st of April until the end of the 
summer. The sap of the sapota tree and the juice of the green fruit, 
when boiled down, furnish what is known in commerce as chicle, from 
which chewing gum is made. 



THE STANDARD GUIDE. 



Sour-Sop (Guanabana). — The sour-sop is a green, irregular-shaped, 
pod-like fruit varying from 3 l / 2 to 12 inches in length, about two-thirds as 
broad near the top, and curving to a blunt point at the lower end to one 
side of the center. The skin is rather thick and covered with numerous 
small, hooked briers. The pulp, which has the appearance of wet cotton, 
surrounds the numerous tough seed sacs containing small brown seeds. 
The flavor is acid without being sweet. It is highly esteemed for making 
cooling summer beverages, flavoring soda-water syrups and water ices, 
and for preserving. The most popular beverage is made by macerating 
the fruit with sugar, diluting with water, and straining off the pulp. The 
'guanabana en almibar" is composed of the pulp of the fruit preserved in 
sugar syrup. The "pulpa de guanabana al natural" is the pulp preserved 
without sugar for cafe and soda-water trade when the fruit is out of 
season. 

Sweet-Sop (Anona) — The sweet-sop is heart-shaped and deeply creased 
The pulp is very much like that of the sour-sop, but it contains more 
sugar and, as a rule, a smaller percentage of acids. Sweet-sops are eaten 
in the fresh state, and are also used in making water-ices and soda-water 
syrups. It is not so popular as the sour variety. 

Star- Apple (Caimito). — The caimito, one of the less important fruits, 
is but little used, although some medicinal properties are attributed to it 
Three different varieties are sold in the Havana market, one white and 
two purple kinds, one of which is round and the other oval. The fruit 
attains the size of a small apple, averaging 200 grams (7 ounces) in weight 
It contains two kinds of pulp, the inner one of which, a white gelatinous 
mass containing the small black seeds, is the edible portion, constituting 
only one-third of the fruit, the outer fibrous purple portion being useless 
It has a sweet characteristic flavor and is eaten raw. 

Tamarind (Tamarindo). — The tamarind is the fruit of a leguminous 
tree. The fruit is a dark brown pod, from 1 to 6 inches long and from 
}i to 1 inch in width. Within, there is a thick, dark-colored pasty material 
closely surrounding the tough seed sacks and joined to the stem of the 
pod by several coarse fibers. This paste constitutes the edible portion 
of the fruit, and is intensely sour. The fruit is used in making refreshing 
summer beverages and for flavoring soda-water syrups. 



RESTAURANT "PARIS" "S^ 

A. PETIT, Proprietor Telefono Num, A2232 

This well-known restaurant of world-wide renown is a favorite resort of all persons appre- 
ciating a first-class table, and the only one which supplies the very best French and Spanish 
cooking at reasonable Drices. Do not mistake The only one French restaurant in Havana. 



arid am 

Sast Poast'JIoteh 

of theJfaglerSystem 



The North's first thought when 
Winter comes, is that stretch 
of blossoming palm - fringed 
shore— 500 miles along the 
East Coast of Florida — with 
its sunny skies, blue seas, 
balmy, perfumed air, and the 
smartest social life of the con- 
tinent. All outdoor sports in 
perfection. Golf, tennis, surf 
bathing, yachting, idling in the 
sun, flirting under tLe palms; 
and the best resort hotels in 
the world. 



CT A I \C 1 TQTIM17 PONCEDELEON, Robert Murray, Mgr. 
Ol. AUUUjlllNL ALCAZAR, - Wm. McAuliffe, Mgr. 

ORMOND On-the-Halifax THE ° L R rAV>„, Mg , 

DAT AA UE'Ar'U ROYAL POINCIANA, - H. E. Bemis, Mgr. 
r/\L-.lVl I5ll./\^n BREAKERS, - - Leland Sterry, Mgr. 

MIAMI ROYAL PALM - Jos. P. Greaves, Mgr. 

LONG KEY LONG KEY FISHING CAMP, L. P. Schutt, Mgr. 

KEY WEST CASA CARINA (Andean Plan) ^ ^ 

NASSAU RaUnmac THECOLONIAT, J. W. Creene, Mgr. 

oanamas r^yal victoria, j. w.Greene, Mgr. 




Florida East Coast Hotel Co. 

243 Fifth Avenue, New York 




Delightful cruises to the quaint countries of 
the Caribbean — Cuba, Jamaica, Panama, 
Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala, Central 
and South America. 

Frequent sailings from New York and New Orleans 

UNITED FRUIT COMPANY 

General Offices: 131 State St., Boston, Mass. 

STEAMSHIP SERVICE 

Passenger Traffic Department 

17 Battery Place New York 



ANNOUNCEMENT EXTRAORDINARY 



New Short Route Express Service 

BETWEEN 

MIAMI, FLORIDA 

AND 

HAVANA, CUBA 

BY THE 

HAVANA-AMERICAN STEAMSHIP CORPORATION 

OPERATING THE 

New 1 8-knot palatial steamer City of Miami, formerly steamer 
City of South Haven, equipped with oil-burning engints. One hundred 
state rooms. Parlor rooms. Newly furnished in every department. 

FARES: 

One Way, $25.00. Round Trip, $40.00. War Tax Extra. 

MEALS AND BERTH INCLUDED 

SAILINGS: 

Leave Miami . . . Sunday . . . Tuesday . . , Thursday . . 2 P. M. 
Arrive Havana . . Monday . . Wednesday . Friday .... 8 A. M. 
Leave Havana . . Monday . . Wednesday . Friday .... 3 P. M. 
Arrive Miami . . . Tuesday . . Thursday . . Saturday ... 7 A. M. 

For further information inquire at any 
^/i*K Mr. Foster Service Office, or the 



HA VAN A- AMERICAN STEAMSHIP CORPORATION 

Office, 13 North East Second Avenue - Miami, Florida 




HOTEL CLARENDON 

AND COTTAGES 

Seabreeze on the East Coast of Florida 

Post Office, Seabreeze :: R. R. Station, Daytona 
NEW AND ABSOLUTELY FIREPROOF 

The most modern Resort Hotel in the South. Open early in 
January to April 15th. Golf, automobiling, sea bathing, fishing, 
hunting, trap-shooting, riding and driving. Running water 
and telephones in every bed-room. Turkish baths. New Eng- 
land employees 

SEVERAL VERY DESIRABLE COTTAGES ON THE GROUNDS 

equipped for housekeeping, or arrangements may be made 
for meals at the hotel. Through train service. 110 miles 
south of Jacksonville. Located directly on the Ocean and 
the Famous Beach. Information in New York at 1180 
Broadway, and Mr. Foster's office, 130 West 42d St., and 
at all of Mr. Foster's offices throughout the United States. 



E. L. POTTER, - - President 

C. J. ROOT, Manager 

New York Booking Office :: :: 1180 Broadway 
—j 



THE 

GRUNEWALD 

NEW ORLEANS 




"THE CAVE" 

NEW ORLEANS' MOST UNIQUE ATTRACTION 




The House Luxurious. A $3, 000, 000 property with a combination of 
Hotel and Home attractions found in few hotels of this country. Five 
hundred and forty-two rooms, single and en suite. 

CHARLES DUFFY, Jr., General Manager 



DIXVILLE NOTCH, N. H. 

THE BALSAMS 



Open June to October 

Farthest north and distinc- 
tive among White Mountain 
Hotels. New fireproof unit 
of one hundred rooms, all 
with bath. Best of auto 
boulevards. Fireproof gar- 
age. Superior goif course 
and club house. Fishing and 
unusual outdoor attractions. 
Elevation 2000 feet. 

Descriptive Literature 
on Request 

LUKE GLENNON, Manager 

Winter Address : 
Partridge Inn, Augusta, Ga. 



Tiny 

Character Sketches 



OF GREAT HOTELS 

Under the direction 

of L. M. BOOMER 





In New York 

WALDORF-ASTORIA 

Fifth Avenue at 34th Street 

There are no competitive aspirants for 
its prestige. It is unique. 

HOTEL McALPIN 

Broadway at 34th Street 

A fifteen million dollar hotel without 
ostentation. 

HOTEL CLARIDGE 

Broadway at 44th Street 

D'gnity and comfort at the central 
point of New York's gaiety. 

MARTINIQUE 

Broadway at 32nd Street 

Moderately priced, yet offering every 
hotel comfort and advantage. 

HOTEL WOODSTOCK 

43rd Street East of Broadway 

The rendezvous of gentlefolk who 
appreciate the best. 

In Philadelphia 

BELLEVUE-STRATFORD 

Broad and Walnut Streets 

After the first visit Philadelphia suggests 
only one hotel, the Bellevue- Stratford. 

In Washington 

THE NEW WILLARD 

Pennsylvania Avenue and F Street 

The preferred stopping place of experi- 
enced world travelers. 




CJhis l/ear CANADA Calls you! 

Vacation Land of Ideal Summer Climate 

Hay fever is unknown in this clear, pine-and-balsam scented air. Un- 
limited territory to choose from — cloud-tipped mountains and rugged 
foothills inviting exploration; wide valleys of woods and streams and wild 
flowers; turquoise lakes with sandy beaches; the restful relaxation of camp 
life or the luxury of the finest hotels. 

In Canada, your Ideal Vacation is realized; Algonquin Park — Muskoka 
Lakes — Great Lakes Cruise — Georgian Bay — Lake of Bays — Kawartha 
Lakes — Timagami — Nipigon — Quetico — Minaki — Lower St. Lawrence and 
Maritime Provinces. Fishing, boating, bathing, golf. A summer play- 
ground in the great out-of-doors. 

Jasper Park, Alberta, and Mount Robson Park, British Columbia, em- 
brace the scenic mountain wonders of the Dominion. 

For full information write 

Canadian National or Grand Trunk Railways 



at any of the following addresses: 

BOSTON-294 Washington St. 
BUFFALO— 1019 Chamber of 

Commerce Building. 
CHICAGO-64 West Adams St. 
CINCINNATI— Traction Building. 
DETROIT— 527 Majestic Building. 
KANSAS CITY— 710 Railway 

Exchange Building. 



Ask for Booklet G. 

MINNEAPOLIS— 518 Second Avenue 
South. 

NEW YORK-1270 Broadway. 
PITTSBURGH-505 Park Building. 
ST. LOUIS— 305 Merchants Laclede 
Building. 

SAN FRANCISCO-689 Market St. 
SEATTLE— 902 Second Ave. 



Fishing, Hunting and Camping 

Real fishing and hunting in virgin streams and unspoiled big game country 
in NOVA SCOTIA, NEW BRUNSWICK, QUEBEC, ONTARIO, 
ALBERTA and BRITISH COLUMBIA. For full information write 
G. T. Bell, Passenger Traffic Manager, Grand Trunk Railway System, 
Montreal, Canada, or H. H. Melanson, Passenger Traffic Manager, 
Canadian National Railways, Toronto, Canada. 



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CATS PAW 

CUSHION RUBBER HEELS 



TREAD SOFTLY 
STEP SAFELY 




THAT PLUG 
PREVENTS 
SLIPPING 



ORDER BY NAME. 




FOSTER RUBBER CO., 

BOSTON, MASS. 




SEASICK 



Ever Trainsick? 

If you are troubled with nausea or 
headache while traveling on Boat, 
Train, Trolley, Automobile, Flying 
Machine or other conveyance, use 

Mothersill's 
Seasick Remedy 

The only dependable 
preventive of Nausea 

A preventive and corrective en- 
dorsed by highest authorities and 
used by travelers the world over. 
MothersiTs contains no habit- 
forming drugs. 

MOTHERSILL REMEDY CO., Ltd., Detroit, Mich. 

LONDON, NEW YORK, MILAN, AMSTERDAM, BOMBAY, ALEXANDRIA, 
MONTREAL, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, WELLINGTON, N. Z. 




r 



Sold by leading druggists everywhere. 60c. box for 24 hour 
treatment; $1.20 box for longest continuous journey . 
With guarantee of satisfaction or money refunded. 



STEINWAY 

The Instrument of the Immortals 

TO own a piano is one thing — to own the instrument of the Immortals is another. 
The Steinway is the piano over whose keyboard Richard Wagner dreamed his 
visions and enriched the world. It is the voice with which Liszt, Gounod, Rubin- 
stein and their immortal fellows spoke to mankind. It is the piano of Paderewski — 
and the piano upon which Hofmann and Rachmaninoff are playing their way to 
immortality to-day. It is the chosen instrument of the masters and the lovers of 
immortal music. 

Catalogue and prices on application 

STEINWAY SONS 

STEINWAY HALL 
107-109 East 14th Street - - - New York City 

Subway Express Stations at the Door 
Represented by the Foremost Dealers Everywhere 




CHOCOLATES 



The 

Sampler Messenger Boy 
is a True Globe Trotter. 



You can buy Whitman's 
everywhere, including — 

^/Isk Mr. Foster 




FOR SALE EVERYWHERE 
Convenient Pocket Editions for Tourists 

Indexed Pocket Maps of Every State 

The maps are large scale, showing clearly all cities, towns, vil- 
lages, railroads, counties, mountains, national parks, lakes, 
creeks, islands, etc. Each map is folded to convenient pocket 
size and attached to booklet containing* complete alphabetical 
index to all places on the map, giving location, new census pop- 
ulation and information regarding railroad, express, mail and 
telegraph facilities of each. Main highways shown clearly. The 
most accurate and dependable maps for the tourist and traveler. 
Price 35c. each 

Official Auto Trails Maps 

America's Most Popular Road Guides 
Featuring marked automobile routes with explanations of markers. 

Published in twenty-one convenient touring districts. 
Each district map is inserted in a pocket-sized booklet contain- 
ing reliable information concerning the better hotels, garages 
and service stations, as well as city maps showing the best 
routes through the larger towns. The map shows the key — 
Simply follow the painted poles. Price 35c. each. 

Black and White Mileage Maps 

With Hotel Directories 

of all States. Showing all important places, with railroad lines 
and railroad mileage between cities, towns and junctions. Folded 
to pocket size with indexes giving location and new census pop- 
ulation of cities and towns, their principal industries and prod- 
ucts, express, telegraph and mail service. Also hotels and 
rates. Indispensable to the traveler. Price 35c. each. 

Foreign Country Maps 

A comprehensive series of maps of all countries showing sub- 
divisions, cities, towns, railroads, waterways, mountains, etc. 
Indexes giving location and population. Pi ice 35c. each. 

m 




Map Headquarters 



536 S. Clark St., Chicago 



42 E. 22nd St.. New York 



You 
are in 
Constant 
Danger 

of an accident wherever you may be. 

On the street, in train or street car, on a boat, 
motoring, or in your own home, the slightest mis- 
chance and permanent injuries or death may be 
the result. 

Don't expose yourself and family to such a chance. 

vETNA-IZE 

An iEtna Accident Policv will pav as high as 
$15,000 if you lose your life — $25.00 to $50.00 a 
week as long as you lire if you are totally dis- 
abled— $12.50 to $25.00 a week up to 26 weeks 
if partially disabled. 

All for a premium cost of but $25.00 a year if you 
are a preferred risk. 

Protect yourself while there is time 

For further information, m ^sfi Mr. Foster or apply to 

W. M. McCRORY CO., General Agents 

56 West Bay Street, JACKSONVILLE, FLA. 

i /ETNA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY 

Accident and Liability Department 

HARTFORD, CONN. 
■ 




Wherever You Travel 
You will find Airline Honey 

Comb Honey, Extracted Honey 

On Steamship, Dining Car or in 
Your Hotel 

Order the Airline Individual Service of 
Comb Honey or Extracted Honey 

When you reach home, 
Nationally distributed Airline 

Can be had at your grocers 

Wherever You Travel and Recreate 

Watch for busy bees in Root Quality Hives 
in Apiaries equipped with Root Quality Supplies 

Wherever You Live 

You can keep bees for pleasure and profit or for profit alone. 
Root bee supplies will supply every need for every climate. 
Branch companies and dealers thruout the country supply real service. 
Send for booklets on Honey or Bees or both. 

THE A. I. ROOT COMPANY, - Medina, Ohio 

BRANCH OFFICES 

NEW YORK PHILADELPHIA CHICAGO INDIANAPOLIS 

ST. PAUL NORFOLK NEW ORLEANS 

THE A. I. ROOT COMPANY OF IOWA 

Council Bluffs, Iowa ^^S^s. 

THE A. I. ROOT COMPANY OF TEXAS %5MM 

San Antonio, Texas \yi/nSm \ 

THE A. I. ROOT COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA i MMm jM 

Los Angeles and San Francisco s^ s^y^ ^ 

THE A. I. ROOT COMPANY OF CANADA, Ltd. 
Ingersoll, Ontario 




THE 

CORN EXCHANGE BANK 

ORGANIZED 1853 

MAIN OFFICE : 

William and Beaver Streets, - New York City 

Capital and Surplus - - $15,000,000 
BRANCHES 



AST OR PLACE BRANCH 

Astor Place and Eighth Street 

ASTORIA BRANCH 

75 Fulton Avenue, Astoria 
Borough of Queens 
AUDUBON BRANCH 

Broadway and 166th Street 
BROADWAY BRANCH 

Broadway and Spring Street 
BRONX BRANCH 

375 East 149th Street 
BROOKLYN BRANCH 

Court and Joralemon Sts., Brooklyn 
CHATHAM SQUARE BRANCH 

Park Row and Worth Street 
D Y C KM A N BRANCH 

207th Street and Post Avenue 
EAST SIDE BRANCH 

Norfolk and Grand Streets 
EIGHTY-SIXTH STREET BRANCH 
Lexington Avenue and 86th Street 
ELEVENTH WARD BRANCH 

Avenue D and 10th Street 
FIFTH AVENUE BRANCH 

Fifth Avenue and 20th Street 
FIFTY-FIFTH STREET BRANCH 

55th Street and Broadway 
FLATBUSH AVENUE BRANCH 

19 and 21 Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn 
FLUSHING BRANCH 

116 Main Street. Flushing 
Borough of Queens 
FORDHAM BRANCH 

Fordham Road and Decatur Avenue 
FOREST HILLS BRANCH 

Forest Hills. L. I. 
FORTY-SECOXD STREET BRANCH 

303 West 42d Street 
FOURTH AVENUE BRANCH 

Fourth Avenue and 29th Street 
FULTON STREET BRANCH 

Fulton and Pearl Streets 
GRAND CENTRAL BRANCH 

7 East 42d Street 
GREENPOINT BRANCH 

Greenpoint and Manhattan Aves. 

Brooklyn 

HARLEM BRANCH 

125th Street and Lenox Avenue 



HUDSON RIVER BRANCH 

Columbus Avenue and 72d Street 
LEXINGTON BRANCH 

Lexington Avenue and 60th Street 

Mckinley square branch 

1309 Clinton Avenue 
MOUNT MORRIS BRANCH 

12oth Street and Park Avenue 
MYRTLE AVENUE BRANCH 

Myrtle Avenue and Broadway 
Brooklyn 

181st STREET BRANCH 

St. Nicholas Avenue and 181st Street 
PARK AVENUE BRANCH 

Park Avenue and 52d Street 
PENNSYLVANIA STATION BRANCH 

7th Avenue and 33d Street 
PLAZA BRANCH 

Plaza and Academy St., L. I. City 
QUEENS COUNTY BRANCH 

Jackson Avenue and 4th Street 
Long Island City 
SEVENTH AVENUE BRANCH 

7th Avenue and 16th Street 
SEVENTY-SECOND ST. BRANCH 

Lexington Avenue and 7 I'd Street 
SHERIDAN SQUARE BRANCH 

Grove and West Fourth Streets 
SOUTH BROOKLYN BRANCH 
Hamilton Avenue and Summit Street 

Brooklyn 

STATEN ISLAND BRANCH 

New Brighton.. Staten Island 
STEIN WAY AVENUE BRANCH 

2 52 Steinway Avenue, L. I. City 
TERMINAL BRANCH 

Dey and Church Streets 

TREMONT BRANCH 

Tremont and Arthur Avenues 
TWENTY-EIGHTH ST. BRANCH 

12 West 28th Street 
UNION SQUARE BRANCH 

16th Street and Fourth Avenue 
UNIVERSITY BRANCH 

Broadway and 113th Street 

WASHINGTON BRANCH 

Broadway and Murray Street 

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS BRANCH 
Amsterdam Avenue and 143d St. 



"CHAUTAUQUA" 

MEANS THESE THREE THINGS WHICH INTERESTS YOU ? 



A System of Home Reading 

Definite results from the use of spare minutes. European year now current. 
Ask for C. L. S. C. Quarterly. 

A Vacation School 

Competent irstruction. Fourteen Departments. Over 3000 enrollments 
yearly. The best environment for study. Notable lectures. Expense 
moderate. July and August. Ask for Summer Schools Catalog - . 

A Summer Town Among the Trees 

All conveniences of living, the pure charm of nature, and advantages for 
culture, that are famed throughout the world. Organized sports both aquatic 
and on the lard. Professional men's clubs. Women's conferences. Great 
lectures and recitals. July and August. Ask for Assembly Program. 



CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION, :: Chautauqua, N. Y. 



For Sixty Years the Leading American Business College— 

Will qualify any ambitious, intelligent young man or woman for 
a paying position in a single year (or less). If you want to get a 
start and can afford the preparation which assures promotion, 
Eastman can help you. Finishing vocational courses 
in Accounting, Banking, Civil Service, Penmanship, 
Stenography, Typewriting, Business English, Ad- 
vertising, Salesmanship, etc., taught by experienced, 
efficient, and faithful teachers. Exceptional oppor- 
tunities for self-help_ and advancement to capable 
young people of high character. Individual training for persons who 
need to be interested, encouraged, taught how to study, and made self- 
reliant. Special rates to good musicians. Moderate expenses. New 
students enroll and begin work any week day. No vacations. Summer 
Write for prospectus. Address 




term begins July 
CLEMENT C. GAINES, M. A., LL.D. 



Poughkeepsie. N. Y 



Ladies traveling alone find very practical assistance 
at the Ask Mr. Foster Travel Information Offices. 



Even better than money 

"A. B. A." Cheques are better than actual money for the 
traveler for several reasons: They are more convenient to 
carry — less bulky. They are safer, because no one can use 
them until you have countersigned them. Your counter- 
signature on an "A. B. A" Cheque in the presence of the 
person accepting the cheque, is the only identification required. 
They do not have to be changed into another kind of money 
when you go from one country into another. They are like 
dollars in the United States and Canada; like pounds, shill- 
ings and pence in the United Kingdom and the British Colo- 
nies; like francs in France, lire in Italy, and so on. In other 
words, they are accepted internationally for payment of goods 
and services — "The safest, handiest travel funds." 

Get them at your bank, or write 
Bankers Trust Company, New 

York, for booklet and information 
as to where they may be had in 
your vicinity. 

it 4 Jk American 

A.B.A. jSssl Cheques 



^/l*K Mr. Foster 

In the Lord & Taylor Store 

5th Avenue, 38th & 39th Streets 
New York 



VISITORS to New York are 
invited to come directly to 
Mr. Foster's Information 
Office, for information about hotels, 
shopping, amusements, and other 
things in New York. Also about 
travel everywhere, railroads, steam- 
ships, hotels, and summer and winter 
resorts. All information is given 
without charge. No fees are ever 
asked or accepted. 



■ m " ' " " * N 

Mme. Clotilde L. de Amador 

43 Teniente Rey Street - Havana 



Grand Assortment of Ladies' 
Hand-Embroidered Clothing 

THE only house in the Island of Cuba which imports direct the 
genuine and world-famed Hand Drawn Work of the 
Canary Islands. 
(J[ If you wish a useful gift 
for relative or friend, see 
Mme. Clotilde's assort- 
ment of fine linen wear. 
1^ A purchase from Mme, 
Clotilde means a saving to 
the buyer and a certainty 
of acquiring cheaply goods 
that cannot be obtained 
in the United States. 

Do not confuse her 
goods (all hand-made) 
with those of inferior 
grades. 

Visit Mme. Clotilde and see her stocky etten 
though you do not intend to purchase. :: :: 

Shirt Waists, Skirts, Corset Covers, Chemises, Night-gowns, 
Handkerchiefs, Tea-gowns, Wrappers, Children's Dresses, 
Babies' Outfits, Sheets, Pillow Cases, Cushions, Towels, 
Bed Spreads, Table Cloths, Napkins, etc., etc. :: :: :: 
English, French and German spoken 




Mme. CLOTILDE L. de AMADOR 

43 Teniente Rey Street ----- Havana 



No European Trip is Complete 
without a Visit to 

SWITZERLAND 

THE land of enchantment and contrasts, where all 
tastes and fancies can be satisfied and where there 
is perfect enjoyment in store for the rest-seeking, 
the tourist, the sportsman, the scholar or lover of 
mediaeval art. 

Full and up-to-date information relative to hotel rates 
(which since 1914 only show an average increase of 
60%) will be gladly furnished by our Information 
Bureau, as well as any suggestions or data you may 
desire relative to tours, sport, residence and education in 
any part of Switzerland. 

We do not sell tours or tickets, our sole purpose being 
to answer questions. You are therefore cordially in- 
vited to take full advantage of our free service, which 
also includes useful Swiss travel literature handed free of 
charge on personal application, or sent by mail upon 
receipt of 10c. to cover postage. Ask for the * 'Special 
Collection." 



Official Agency of the Swiss Federal Railroads 

241 FIFTH AVENUE 
NEW YORK CITY 

LONDON PARIS 
lib Regent St.,Waterloo PI., S.W. 20 Rue Lafayette 



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